Report shows medical claims on Twitter supporting marijuana were tweeted by bots

A new report claims that bots are responsible for half of the tweets stating the medical benefits of marijuana.

The report, compiled by the American Public Health Association, shows that the public’s view of medical marijuana can be easily swayed in favor of legalizing marijuana.

This is a significant study – and shows how the debate is being skewed… to the detriment of public health, states Bob McCoskrie, the head of New Zealand group Family First.

“Posts generated by bots that indicated cannabis could allay health concerns outnumbered those generated by humans. “Unsubstantiated health claims perpetuated by social bots may have offline consequences, such as leaving Twitter users with the impression that cannabis use can allay health problems such as cancer,” the researchers warn. They note that previous research shows adolescents exposed to messages about marijuana benefits on social media are more likely to use the drug than those not exposed to such messages.”

Distil Networks defines social media bots as “A type of bot on a social media network used to automatically generate messages, advocate ideas, act as a follower of users, and as a fake account to gain followers itself. It is estimated that 9%-15% of Twitter accounts may be social bots.”

Researchers from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles mined tweets of cannabis conversations on Twitter from May 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. Using sophisticated software, they were able to distinguish between tweets generated by humans and those generated by bots.

Twitter posts studied discussed “edibles, hemp, legalization, buying products, cannabis’ appeal or abuse liability, and health claims among other issues. Most of these topics were evenly divided between humans and bots, but posts generated by bots that indicated cannabis could allay health concerns outnumbered those generated by humans.

“Unsubstantiated health claims perpetuated by social bots may have offline consequences, such as leaving Twitter users with the impression that cannabis use can allay health problems such as cancer,” the researchers warn.

They note that previous research shows adolescents exposed to messages about marijuana benefits on social media are more likely to use the drug than those not exposed to such messages.