Report Details Foreign Influence in Super Bowl Discourse

A report by predictive narrative intelligence platform GUDEA indicates that a significant portion of online discussion surrounding the Super Bowl halftime performance, which featured Bad Bunny, was manipulated by foreign disinformation bots. The analysis covered over 3.7 million Bad Bunny-related posts from more than 1.2 million users across 32 platforms between January 14 and February 10.

Key Findings

• Only 3.7% of accounts were responsible for generating 25.85% of the total content analyzed. This small percentage included foreign bots.
• The objective of these foreign actors was to "sow political and cultural discord" within the United States, rather than to promote a specific narrative or win an argument.
• The discourse around Bad Bunny, which intensified after his Grammy performance, included criticism of the Halftime Show's depictions of working-class Puerto Ricans and outrage over various alleged actions by the artist, some of which were unfounded.

"The objective of these foreign actors was to 'sow political and cultural discord' within the United States, rather than to promote a specific narrative or win an argument."

Broader Context and Impact

GUDEA CEO Keith Presley stated that the aim was "To put some dynamite in the fault lines in American culture and blow it up," suggesting that foreign actors amplified existing societal divisions.

The report also highlights that the goal is "destabilization, to erode shared trust, deepen existing divisions, and exhaust the public’s ability to distinguish what is real from what is manufactured." Such actions can make a population more susceptible to influence and less capable of civic action.

GUDEA CEO Keith Presley stated that the aim was "To put some dynamite in the fault lines in American culture and blow it up," suggesting that foreign actors amplified existing societal divisions.

The report also noted a similar disinformation campaign last year that spread false accusations about Taylor Swift's alleged ties to Nazism.

Advertisers are also advised to be aware of these trends, as "million dollar decisions" can be based on inauthentic data. While no specific foreign entity was identified in this instance, past celebrity-based disinformation campaigns have been linked to Russia. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice reported disrupting a Russian propaganda bot farm that used AI to create fake social accounts for spreading disinformation.