Article
Civic Bots: An Analysis of Automation Technologies as an Activist Repertoire on X/Twitter
An analysis of the extent to which civic bots constitute an activist communication repertoire on Twitter, based on Brazilian initiatives.
An analysis of the extent to which civic bots constitute an activist communication repertoire on Twitter, based on Brazilian initiatives.
The main objective of this study is to understand to what extent civic bots constitute an activist communication repertoire on Twitter, based on an analysis of Brazilian initiatives. The hypothesis explored by this article is that these initiatives have simultaneously helped to constitute a professional field, related to the datafication of civil society organizations and to data journalism, and also to form specialized audiences. Starting from approximately 130,000 tweets that mention or react to at least one of 14 different civic bots in Brazil over the last five years, the investigation aims to (1) identify possible networks of actors that occur among the audiences, and (2) compare the reach and effects of each initiative. The initial results point to the existence of a group of users who are extremely engaged in interacting with these tools.
Authors: Viktor Chagas e Gabriella da Costa
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CHAGAS, V.; COSTA, G. da. Bots cívicos: uma análise sobre tecnologias de automação como repertório ativista no X/Twitter. São Paulo: INTERCOM — Revista Brasileira de Ciências da Comunicação, v. 49, e2026111, 2026.