How U.S. Political Campaigns Use Indian Bot Networks to Amplify Messages
Source: NYT > Business (paywall)
Democratic campaigns are outsourcing voter persuasion to cheap overseas bot networks that artificially inflate video reach—a labor arbitrage where $50 Indian labor beats $5,000 domestic media buys. Rather than paying for legitimate advertising infrastructure, campaigns route money toward manufactured engagement that pollutes the informational commons while technically avoiding FEC restrictions on coordination and disclosure. Campaign finance law, written for TV and direct mail, doesn't address the algorithmic attention economy, where fake-but-coordinated activity functions as a parallel currency.