%0 Journal Article %@ 1438-8871 %I JMIR Publications %V 23 %N 5 %P e26933 %T Bots and Misinformation Spread on Social Media: Implications for COVID-19 %A Himelein-Wachowiak,McKenzie %A Giorgi,Salvatore %A Devoto,Amanda %A Rahman,Muhammad %A Ungar,Lyle %A Schwartz,H Andrew %A Epstein,David H %A Leggio,Lorenzo %A Curtis,Brenda %+ Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 251 Bayview Blvd, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD, 21224, United States, 1 443 740 2126, brenda.curtis@nih.gov %K COVID-19 %K coronavirus %K social media %K bots %K infodemiology %K infoveillance %K social listening %K infodemic %K spambots %K misinformation %K disinformation %K fake news %K online communities %K Twitter %K public health %D 2021 %7 20.5.2021 %9 Viewpoint %J J Med Internet Res %G English %X As of March 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been responsible for over 115 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, resulting in over 2.5 million deaths. As the virus spread exponentially, so did its media coverage, resulting in a proliferation of conflicting information on social media platforms—a so-called “infodemic.” In this viewpoint, we survey past literature investigating the role of automated accounts, or “bots,” in spreading such misinformation, drawing connections to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also review strategies used by bots to spread (mis)information and examine the potential origins of bots. We conclude by conducting and presenting a secondary analysis of data sets of known bots in which we find that up to 66% of bots are discussing COVID-19. The proliferation of COVID-19 (mis)information by bots, coupled with human susceptibility to believing and sharing misinformation, may well impact the course of the pandemic. %M 33882014 %R 10.2196/26933 %U https://www.jmir.org/2021/5/e26933 %U https://doi.org/10.2196/26933 %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33882014