The document summarizes research on profiling Bolsobots, which are social media accounts that support Jair Bolsonaro, on Instagram. The researchers mapped the following networks of Bolsobot accounts to analyze their behaviors. Key findings include discrete bots playing a role in content production and spread while avoiding attention, and Bolsobot farms being diverse and adapted to Brazilian social contexts. Profiling bot ecologies can help understand their political influence in Brazil.

1. Repurposing
Instagram grammar
to profile Bolsobots
Networks
Digital Methods Summer School 2021
Janna Joceli Omena Center for Advanced Internet Studies, Germany Thais Lobo King's College
London, UK Giulia Tucci Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Francisco W. Kerche
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Malu Paschoal University of Trento XIaolu JI
Tsinghua University André Rodarte University of Cambridge; Eleanor Griffiths Goldsmiths
College, University of London Lorenzo Zaffaroni Catholic University of Milan Gaia Amadori
Catholic University of Milan Shilan Huang University of Amsterdam, Andrea Medina Density
Design Lab Antonella Autuori Density Design Lab
Artist:
@raphabaggas

2. #Instabots facts
● Social bots are powerful tools that support large-scale advertising strategies, subtly
manipulate public opinion, direct or redirect attention, generate value etc (see also Santini,
Salles, Tucci, 2021);
● Bots networks can be traced by mapping who they are following (DMI, 2020);
● Bots are part of a diverse ecology. They can operate as:
○ Discrete bots: look like real people; exist to like, comment and follow (&
unfollow) other accounts;
○ Ghost accounts: always present, also taken as bridging nodes (Omena 2019, DMI
2020);
○ Private accounts: serve to bot discrete creation (DMI, 2019)
● Tracing following networks through Bolsonaro's non-official accounts can provide
insights on different actions and behaviours that generate dubious content (Omena,
2019).

3. Brazilian context

4. Research objectives
● Map Bolsonaro (non)supportive accounts by following Instagram
recommendations.
● Build and analyse anti/pro-Bolsonaro following network.
● Characterise the collection of botted accounts using i) accounts profile
metadata, ii) following networks, and iii) grouping profile images by colour
similarity.

5. Research questions
● What can the analysis of bolsobots following networks
tell about the agency of political bots in Brazil?

6. Dataset building
● Query design based on Instagram
recommendations of accounts that support
Jair Bolsonaro government;
● Query Instagram search engine for keywords
such as “bolso” or “bolsonaro” or "mito", using
a desktop computer and mobile phone;
● Select profiles by checking a high number of
followers and/or publications;
● Look into selected profiles for
recommendations to other similar accounts;
● Scrape following accounts of seed profiles

7. Dataset building
35 botted accounts
33,771 accounts & image urls
(followed by our seeds)
26,900 unique users
CSV & JSON files:
Profile info metadata
Following accounts list metadata
image urls

8. List of analysis
1. Key grammars: an overview
a. Emojis, URLs, hashtags, geographical distribution, account type;
b. Close reading;
c. Content analysis;
2. Issues alignments & behaviours: in-depth analysis
a. Visual content analysis (image grouping by colour & repetition; qualitative approach);
b. Textual analysis (machine learning & VNA & computer vision networks);
c. Visual Network Analyses (following accounts: monopartite & bipartite graphs)

9. Key Grammars in profile description
What can Instagram features tell about bot ecologies?

10. Bio information: Emojis situated meaning
● The analysis of emojis
appearing more than 20 times
in dataset show that there are
9 main contexts of use:
○ Bolsonaro: support of the
government, patriotic slogans
and eventual campaign in 2022;
○ Family & faith: celebration of
religion and family values;
○ Digital influence: call to action
and community building;
○ Location;
○ Professional;
○ Sports;
○ Agrobusiness;
○ Security;
○ Various.

11. Bio information: URLs
● The high presence of
messaging apps may indicate
that the accounts are using
external platforms to
coordinate action on
Instagram;
● There are civil society political
movements like Nas Ruas
and Vem Pro Quartel;
● And also a religious
evangelical institution, Bola
de Neve.

12. Bio information: Business categories
● Creators & celebrities
are the most common
business categories;
● Followed by
Merchandising stores;
● Religious organizations
and Publishers.

13. Bio information: text word cloud
● Bolsonaro's slogan appear
in the center of the word
cloud;
● Brasil acima de todos Deus
acima de todos / Brazil
above all / God above all

14. Bio information: hashtags
● The high frequency of
hashtags related to
campaign reveal an
already heated debate
around the 2022
presidential election;
● Old campaign's
hashtags (2018):
Instabots need to
update their bio info!

15. Bio information: mentions
● Bolsonaro family as the
most mentioned
profiles;
● Alt-right politicians'
● Conservative media
vehicles;
● Strong support/
recommendations to
Bolsonaro's political
allies.

16. Rio Grande do Sul
Paraná
Santa Catarina
São Paulo
Minas Gerais
Rio de Janeiro
DF
Pernambuco
Ceará
Bio information: Geographical distribution
● Information collected through
the registered mobile phones;
● The geographical distribution
doesn't match the Brazilian
demographics;
● Most accounts are located in
the South region of Brazil,
especially on Rio Grande do Sul
state where there is a tradition
of a more conservative vote

17. Issues alignments & Behaviours
Which themes emerge by clustering bot accounts?
What are the strategies of the bot ecologies?

18. 6 most recurrent words for each topic
LDA on 3.364 unique profiles bios
Bio information text topic modeling

19. CAMPAIGN
BOLSONARO
FAMILY-RELIGIOUS
PROFESSIONAL
ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT
CONSERVATIVE
PROMOTING
CALL TO ACTION
Plotted topics:
1. 15% threshold
2. Campaigning x
promotion-oriented
Aesthetic correlation between image & topics

20. Recurrent image:
Alliance for Brasil (Bolsonaro’s party)
Ultra conservative cluster: symbols oust people Call to action cluster: faces and real-like profiles
The center has a wider
range of discourses
Bolsonaro
Call to action
Some examples

21. ● In many cases, we weren't
able to find other versions
of the images in the web;
● One of them seemed to
come from a russian
social network;
Images reverse search analysis

22. Where these images comes from?
Using GVA to see
Shutterstock presence
for ‘regular faces’

23. Parameters used:
1. Ratio following/
follows between
0.8 and 1.2 or
above 5
2. Posts count >
2000
3. Family religious
seems to be the
most unusual
behavior
Spotting the bots

24. A few profiles we were retrieved using the method

25. 33,768 profile pictures of Bolsobots following network
Instagram, July 2021
grouped by ImageSorter
Visual Analysis: colour grouping & image repetition

26. Categorization as a method to identify and profile bots
Kinds of avatars repetition
in ImageSorter
👥 Followed repetition One user followed by many, so the same profile
appears in ImageSorter multiple times.
🔁 Identical usage repetition One image is used by different users, so the same
image appears in ImageSorter multiple times
🎨 Related aesthetic repetition Usually used by organized bots group
✝ Related symbology repetition Different aesthetics but with related symbols/signs
Account type
Humanized Sophisticated Bot-like It’s personalized, it has stories, it’s linked to a kind of
organization;
🤖 Cheap bot-like It might follow a themes pattern, but it has no posts, or
almost none;
🥸 Discrete bots No profile picture, private account.
Capacity
⬆ High capacity
A mixture of humanistic features including but not
limited to: story highlights, generate a lot of content,
more followers than they are following, replying to
comments, etc.
↕ Medium capacity
⬇ Low capacity
Categorization & behaviour profiling

27. Categorization | Colors & Themes & Profiles Pics

28. #2
Personalised
accounts;
#1
Discrete bots;
#3
Content
distribution
Hubs (or
“independent
media”).
Black & White

29. #1
Patriotic
#2
Pro-Party
Towards white
#3
Politicians, Celebrities and
influencers (human activity).
Green & Yellow

30. #3
Parody.
1#
Anti-communists;Anti-fe
minist;
#2
Flowers; Hearts;
Religious symbols.
Red

31. #1
Flowers; Hearts;
Religious symbols.
#2
Politicians, Celebrities and
influencers (human
activity).
Orange

32. Bot stories: Hammer & Sickle cluster
● Meta-cluster theme:
Anti-leftist
● Account types: Humanised
and sophisticated combined
with discrete/ cheap bot like
● Cyber troop capacity:
Medium
● Messaging strategies:
Attacking the opposition or
mounting smear campaigns
● Colour Cluster: Red
● Type of Repetition: Related
aesthetic repetition
Here is a ‘filler’ or ‘discrete’ bot
within the same cluster. Most
likely sold as a combined
package with the high capacity
bots on the left.
Discrete bots can also offer a
different function to humanised
bots by avoiding attention and
contributing to higher overall
numbers.
Higher capacity bots where the structure of
each account is the same with minor
differences. Posts different content,
different bios, that follow the same theme

33. Bot stories: Anti-Feminist cluster
● Meta-cluster theme:
Anti-leftist
● Account types: Humanised
and sophisticated combined
with discrete/ cheap bot like
● Cyber troop capacity:
Medium
● Messaging strategies:
● Attacking the opposition or
mounting smear campaigns
● Colour Cluster: Red
● Type of Repetition: Related
aesthetic repetition
Misuse of child’s Tiktok content on profile

34. Bot stories: Anti-Feminist cluster
● High capacity bot
interacts with users
impersonating a
child with Tiktok
videos;
● Other users
question the
authenticity of the
profile
Is this you in the video?
Yes it’s me.
I thought the
administrator of this
profile was a full
grown man hahaha
[comment underneath]
Anti.feminista_ replies: hahaha

35. Bot stories: ‘Auntie Bots’ cluster (hearts, flowers, religious avatars)
● Meta-cluster theme:
Personas
● Account types: Humanised
and sophisticated
● Cyber troop capacity: High
● Messaging strategies: No
political content or
Pro-government/pro-party
propaganda
● Colour Cluster: Red, Orange
● Type of Repetition: Related
symbology repetition
Impersonating ‘baby boomers’ online
exploits the clunky and ‘offline’ nature
of boomers on social media.
Therefore very difficult to detect if it is
a bot.

36. Behaviour categories connections

37. Seeds >> Bolsobots
29,693 Instagram accounts
as nodes
37,771 edges as the act of
following other accounts
Maximum number of
following per account: 7,500
Bolsobot bipartite following network
July, 2021

38. Who matters to Bolsobots
supportive accounts?
Who are the bridging accounts?
Where are the ghost accounts
located in network?
How mapping connections
helped us to characterise bots?

39. - Jair Bolsonaro
and his family
- Alt-right politicians
- Government ministries
- The Federal Police of
Brazil
Who matters to Bolsobots supportive accounts?
CENTRE OF THE NETWORK

40. BOTS, BOTS & BOTS
🤖 Conservative accounts & Trump accounts
🤖 Conservative accounts & Extreme-right accounts
🤖 Alliance for Brazil accounts
CELEBRITIES & BRAZILIAN TELEVISION NETWORK
✨📺 Direct relation to SBT Network
Who matters to Bolsobots supportive accounts?
MID-ZONES OF THE NETWORK

43. ORDINARY USERNAMES
SUPPORTIVE ACCOUNTS
Who are the bridging nodes?
PERIPHERY-ZONES OF THE NETWORK

44. Where are the
ghost accounts
located in the
network?
GHOST ACCOUNTS I 1.79%
Seeds 0.12% // Remaining accounts 98.1%
Pro-Bolsonaro bots following network I July 2021

45. "Deactivated" profiles

46. inactiveprofile.deactivated

47. A monopartite network to visualise
the role of ghost accounts

49. How mapping
connections
helped us to
characterise
bots?
Gephi Interface Instagram recommending system

50. ● Although very diverse, the ecology of bolsobots profiles is situated in specific
contexts pointing "real life" Bolsonaro's supporting publics;
● Discrete bots play an important role in producing content and sustaining its
spread while maintaining themselves out of the radar;
● Bolsobot farms creation/maintenance are diverse (low/high capacity bots) and
well adapted to Brazilian social stereotypes;
● Profiling bot ecologies can help to build awareness of their agency in the
Brazilian context, contributing to scholarly research in related topics;
Main takeaways

51. Thank you!