| Title: |
How cyborg propaganda reshapes collective action |
| Authors: |
Kunst, Jonas R.; Bierwiaczonek, Kinga; Cha, Meeyoung; Ebrahimi, Omid V.; Fawcett-Atkinson, Marc; Følstad, Asbjørn; Gollwitzer, Anton; Köbis, Nils; Marcus, Gary; Roozenbeek, Jon; Schroeder, Daniel Thilo; Van Bavel, Jay J.; van der Linden, Sander; White, Rory; Wilhelmsen, Live Leonhardsen |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
ArXiv.org (Cornell University Library) |
| Subject Terms: |
Computers and Society; Artificial Intelligence |
| Description: |
The distinction between genuine grassroots activism and automated influence operations is collapsing. While policy debates focus on bot farms, a distinct threat to democracy is emerging via partisan coordination apps and artificial intelligence-what we term 'cyborg propaganda.' This architecture combines large numbers of verified humans with adaptive algorithmic automation, enabling a closed-loop system. AI tools monitor online sentiment to optimize directives and generate personalized content for users to post online. Cyborg propaganda thereby exploits a critical legal shield: by relying on verified citizens to ratify and disseminate messages, these campaigns operate in a regulatory gray zone, evading liability frameworks designed for automated botnets. We explore the collective action paradox of this technology: does it democratize power by 'unionizing' influence (pooling the reach of dispersed citizens to overcome the algorithmic invisibility of isolated voices), or does it reduce citizens to 'cognitive proxies' of a central directive? We argue that cyborg propaganda fundamentally alters the digital public square, shifting political discourse from a democratic contest of individual ideas to a battle of algorithmic campaigns. We outline a research agenda to distinguish organic from coordinated information diffusion and propose governance frameworks to address the regulatory challenges of AI-assisted collective expression. ; 9 pages |
| Document Type: |
text |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
http://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13088 |
| Availability: |
http://arxiv.org/abs/2602.13088 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.DA16E13D |
| Database: |
BASE |