An hour after the first reports of shooting in Florida last week, twitter-statements, which are allegedly linked to Russia, have appeared hundreds of reports raising the debate on arms control, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper notes that these accounts picked up the news with the speed of cable TV channels. Some have adopted a hashtag #guncontrolnow (control of the weapon now). Others used #gunreformnow (weapons reform now) and #Parklandshooting (shooting in Parkland).

The publication said that earlier on Wednesday, before the massacre at a school in Parkland, Florida, many of these accounts were focused on the investigation of Russian interference in the US presidential election in 2016, led by special prosecutor Robert Muller.

"It's pretty typical of them to pick up urgent news like this," says Jonathan Morgan, head of New Knowledge, which tracks online disinformation campaigns. - Bots focus on any topics that cause discord among Americans. Almost systematically ».

One of the most acute topics in the country today is the issue of regulating arms turnover, and in these debates the proponents of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution oppose arms control advocates, says the New York Times. Messages that were sent from these automated accounts or bots were designed to strengthen this split and further complicate the achievement of a compromise.

The newspaper indicates that behind these automated Twitter accounts are closely watched by researchers. Last year, the Alliance for Democracy, in collaboration with the Washington-based research organization German Marshall Fund, created a website that tracks hundreds of Twitter accounts of real people, as well as the alleged bots that they linked to the Russian campaign to influence.

Researchers focused on Twitter accounts, which put information in a single mode with well-known Russian propaganda media. To identify an automated bot, they look at certain distinctive features, for example, a very large number of posts that are clearly combined with the content of hundreds of other accounts.

The researchers reported that they watched as the bots began to publish reports of shooting in Parkland shortly after it occurred, points out the New York Times.

Source: Voice of America.