A new investigation by campaign group Global Witness has uncovered bot-like accounts on X that took part in online discussions relating to the recent anti-migrant protests in Coolock, Co Dublin.
The posts included conspiracy theories and the use of hashtags such as #IrelandbelongstotheIrish and other xenophobic sentiments.
Global Witness said that numerous accounts lit up with posts attacking immigration following protests against the use of a former factory in Coolock for accommodating asylum seekers.
"Posts promoted the hashtag #IrelandbelongstotheIrish, encouraged people to join the protests, referenced conspiratorial tropes of "population replacement", or claimed that there was a government plot to import "thousands of criminals" and create chaos to justify greater social repression," Global Witness said.
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"Despite the intense focus on a specific local protest in Ireland and the use of nativist hashtags, none of these accounts appeared to be located in Ireland, according to social media monitoring software analysis," according to the investigation.
As part of its overall investigation, Global Witness identified 45 accounts that appeared to be bots on X that were active ahead of the UK general election.
A number of these accounts subsequently pivoted to emerging global events, including the anti-migrant protests in Coolock, the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, and Joe Biden stepping down from the US presidential election race.
"They often responded to these events with racism, gendered disinformation and conspiracies," Global Witness said.
The accounts also promoted climate change denial by sharing climate conspiracies, including using hashtags such as #ClimateScam or #geoengineering.
According to the group, the bot-like accounts collectively produced around 610,000 posts in the period from 22 May to 22 July, which generated over four billion views.
Global Witness said it wrote to X to give the social media platform the opportunity to comment on the investigation, but that it did not respond to the findings.
"In a moment when everyone is worried about democracy, it is shocking how easy it has been to find accounts that appear to be bots spreading division around the UK vote, and then to watch them jump straight into political discussions in the US and Ireland, frequently responding with hate and conspiracy," said Ava Lee, Campaign Leader Digital Threats at Global Witness.
"In light of our findings, we are calling on X to increase its moderation efforts and get better at enforcing its own policies against inauthentic activity," Ms Lee said.
