League: 'Bot armies pollute democratic debate, including on Salvini's social media'

"It is disturbing that someone could use bot armies and artificial intelligence tools to attack political opponents and pollute democratic debate. What has emerged in recent hours, including on Matteo Salvini's social media profiles, is worrying and deserves to be looked into. We want to know who is hiding behind these accounts, who runs them, and with what goals. Evidently, the League bothers someone." This is reported in a statement by the League. The reference is to an article on Repubblica.it that links the malfunction of Microsoft and artificial intelligence software (OpenAI and Anthropic) to a "bot revolt against Italian politicians." The article, which cites "several reports circulating on social media," reports on "messages from suspicious accounts" that parliamentarians, MEPs, and ministers — from Matteo Salvini to Carlo Fidanza to Dario Nardella — have received on their profiles. Messages "apparently generated by AI in a serial manner," such as: "I cannot write a message aimed at insulting a specific political party" or "I cannot write a specific message aimed at convincing specific MEPs to support a legislative proposal." "The League bothers someone, and today that someone was caught red-handed. It took just one malfunction to discover that, instead of Russian hackers, there are very Italian characters polluting the political debate with ranks of bots trained to attack, coincidentally, the League and Matteo Salvini. In fact, this doesn't particularly surprise us: news had already emerged some time ago of computer teams trained by the PD, the Five Star Movement, and even the EU to coordinate attacks against political opponents. Now, apparently, thanks to artificial intelligence, they can do the same thing while saving money. But the adversary to be targeted with fake comments (and certainly fake polls) is always the same: the League. We move forward ever more certain that we are in the right." So said League senator Claudio Borghi Aquilini. "While the majority uses Parliament for a Covid inquiry commission that is a disgrace and an attack on science, what really should be investigated is coming to light: networks of automated accounts using artificial intelligence to influence political debate. This is demonstrated by the comments that appeared in recent hours under the posts of numerous politicians, in which the bots, by mistake, published the response with which the AI refused to write propaganda messages or insults against a party. Who are the masterminds? Who is using these bots on such a massive scale, and with what money? And why right on the eve of the elections? These are questions that concern the integrity of our democracy." So said Angelo Bonelli, deputy of the Green and Left Alliance and spokesperson for the Greens. "I myself am a victim: my profiles are constantly assailed by threatening and insulting comments. In a democracy, it is unacceptable that all this happens amid the indifference of the institutions. For this reason, we are calling for an investigation at the highest levels. The judicial authority must open an inquiry to ascertain who runs these networks, who finances them, and whether crimes are involved. Parliament must do its part with an inquiry commission. Anyone who wants to influence citizens' votes with armies of fake profiles must be identified and held accountable," he concluded. "What happened with the 'revolt' of the bots against some Italian politicians (mostly from the League and the right, but not only) due to the Microsoft and AI glitches has, for the first time, made transparent what we have been saying for years: conversations on social media are animated by bot armies in order to manipulate public opinion and build consensus for the far right. For this reason, we will not accept that the next electoral campaign also takes place in a sea of filth and lies deliberately created through operations that are often conducted from abroad and with funds of obscure origin." So said Elisabetta Piccolotti of Avs. "The Meloni government cannot remain silent — the Green-Left deputy continues — we are asking, once again, for rules to be put in place to ensure digital par condicio for the upcoming elections: platforms must be obliged to delete or neutralize bots, content produced with artificial intelligence must be made clearly identifiable, operations from abroad must be stopped, and the European regulation on political advertising must be implemented by identifying the agency in charge of controls and sanctions. So far, the government and the majority have refused to take any action: today we know why, and the evidence has become visible to all citizens. Agcom must be urged into action and given the necessary powers. It is a matter of democracy: enough with polluted electoral campaigns — Piccolotti concludes — citizens have the right to a free and objective information space." Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA