FAKE PEOPLE

Today, on the social media, there is a very high probability of coming

across a false profile. As well as individuals who do not state their

own identity, social bots can be encountered: these are automated

programs which hide algorithms that are so sophisticated that they

cannot be distinguished from people in flesh and blood. The social bots,

used for a huge variety of purposes, are not all the same: there are the

‘good’ ones, which for example automatically send a tweet in the case

of an earthquake, but there are also less virtuous ones… This book tells

the story of this variegated universe: from the racist bots of Microsoft

to the trolls in the US presidential campaign up to the false followers of

Italian politicians, via the swindle of the algorithm which shot up the

price of the shares of a phantom company to the stars. It is a

fascinating account accompanied by interviews with the most

important professionals in the sector, to reveal the challenges faced by

those who create the bots and those who hunt them down.