| Abstrakt: |
Online extremism and radicalization on social media are major concerns of governments, social media companies, and civic organizations worldwide. Online extremist threats are further amplified through conspiracy theories surrounding the current pandemic, increased social isolation, and more time spent online. Evidenced by the recent extremist attack of the US Capitol, the consequences of failure to intervene are dire. Current extremist interventions online, however, are not comprehensive and timely enough to contain the threat of extremist messages. Research calls for new methods that address, both, the cognitive and technical components to counter extremism. Accordingly, we explore the potential of social bots as AI-based automated agents on social media to online counter radicalization processes online. We apply dual-process theory to social bot intervention messages in an empirical study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
