Political Science Undergraduate Aiden McIlvaney published on Bots, Disinformation and AI-driven Campaigning in Southeast Asia on East Asia Forum Quarterly!

Together with Associate Professor Netina Tan, Political Science undergraduate Aiden McIlvaney argue that while social media use has enhanced citizen-led campaigning in Southeast Asia, it has also promoted disinformation that threatened regional electoral integrity. Digital campaigning professionalized by public relations and digital consultancy firms that offer manipulation services and “deep fakes” to paying political clients are unregulated. These industries engage in targeted campaigns, using “buzzers”, bots, celebrity influencers, cyber-troopers, and cyber-trolls to generate “buzz” around candidates and undermine opposition through memes and parody accounts. They argue that the reliance on legislative regulation or self-regulation by digital platforms is insufficient to moderate online content especially during elections. To address the transnational and multi-dimensional aspects of the social media threats, active multi-stakeholder engagement between governments, social media platforms, voters, election management bodies, fact-checking organizations, and civil society is the best way forward.

For more, see full article here:  Tan, Netina, and Aiden McIlvaney. 2025. “Bots, Buzzers and AI-Driven Campaigning Distort Democracy.” East Asia Forum Quarterly, June 2025. https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/journals/east-asia-forum-quarterly/east-asia-forum-quarterlyvolume-17-number-2-2025

Aiden McIlvaney has also been awarded SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship to pursue his Master’s program in Political Science at McGill University in the Fall 2025.

Congratulations to Aiden on both your publication and scholarship, here’s wishing you the best in the next phase of your academic career!