# Bernie Bot Bernie Bot, also spelled Berniebot, is a slang term for automated accounts that posed as hostile Bernie Sanders supporters to spread misinformation and provoke arguments online. Originally coined in 2015 as an insult for Sanders fans, the word shifted meaning after 2016 reports tied inflammatory pro-Sanders accounts to foreign disinformation operations[1]. By February 2019, Daily Dot was publishing explainers on how to tell a human Bernie Bro from a Bernie Bot during the 2020 Democratic primary[4]. ## Origin The insult version of the term predates the bot version by over a year. On October 20th, 2015, a Facebook group called "Bernie Bots" launched, framing Sanders supporters as robotic followers with no opinion of their own[3]. On March 14th, 2016, an anonymous poster on 4chan's /pol/ board used "berniebot" to attack someone criticizing Donald Trump, which locked the word into general right-wing and anti-Sanders usage[6]. An Urban Dictionary entry by user theveryliberalhomosexual followed later that year[7]. The meaning flipped after March 2017, when HuffPost reported that the admin of a pro-Sanders Facebook group had seen a flood of inflammatory new supporters starting in June 2016, later traced by a private investigator to users based in Macedonia and Albania who were pushing fake news and pro-Sanders memes[1]. By the end of that month, the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russian intelligence had used Sanders supporters as unwitting agents for a parallel disinformation push[2]. - **Platform:** Facebook / 4chan (insult origin), Twitter (disinformation usage) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2015 ## Overview The word carries two meanings that collapsed into each other between 2015 and 2017. In its first life, calling someone a Bernie Bot meant accusing them of parroting Sanders talking points without independent thought, with the robot imagery doing the sneering work[3]. Opponents on Facebook and later 4chan used it this way as a drive-by insult during the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton[3]. After March 2017, the term picked up its second and more technical sense: an actual automated account, often traced back to foreign operators, posing as a Sanders die-hard to pump out memes, fake stories and bait replies[1]. A typical Bernie Bot post of that period pushed anti-Clinton conspiracy content, including the fake story about Clinton using a body double, and fed it into pro-Sanders Facebook groups to drive sharing[2]. The two meanings never fully separated, which is part of why the Daily Dot felt the need to spell out the difference in 2019[4]. ## How It Spread Raw Story's reporting on the Senate Intelligence testimony cemented the automated-account meaning, quoting the same group admins describing anti-Hillary memes about body doubles and murder plots pouring into their feeds from suspected Russian accounts[2]. One admin described the influx as a tsunami of misinformation[1]. Those details gave the word Bernie Bot a specific referent beyond name-calling. As the 2020 primary opened, Politico reported in February 2019 that a fresh coordinated attack was already running against Democratic candidates, including pro-Sanders bot activity designed to sow discord inside the primary itself[5]. Days later, warnings traveled across Twitter: user @missmayn posted a widely shared thread arguing that much of the 2016 Bernie Bro abuse had come from Russian disinformation accounts and asking real Sanders supporters not to repeat the pattern, picking up more than 490 retweets and 3,600 likes within three days[8]. User @igorvolsky posted that an account he had publicly flagged turned out to be a bot, though he noted the same style of reply was coming in from real Sanders supporters too[9]. The Daily Dot published a how-to-tell-the-difference piece that same week, which is where the term got its most explicit public treatment[4]. After the 2020 primary ended, the word mostly fell out of active use outside retrospectives. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Bernie Bot? Bernie Bot is slang for an automated account made to look like an aggressive Bernie Sanders supporter, used to spread misinformation and bait arguments online[1]. The same word was earlier an insult for human Sanders fans[3]. ### Where did Bernie Bot come from? The insult form started with the Facebook group "Bernie Bots" on October 20th, 2015, and spread to 4chan in March 2016[3][6]. The automated-account meaning took over after March 2017 reporting on Russian disinformation targeting the Democratic primary[1]. ### What does Bernie Bot mean? In its original sense, it accused Sanders supporters of being mindless followers[3]. After 2017, it referred specifically to bot accounts, many linked to Russia or operators in Macedonia and Albania, that posed as Sanders fans to push fake stories[1][2]. ### How do you use Bernie Bot? People typically used it either as an insult toward Sanders supporters they thought were parroting talking points, or as a label for suspected automated troll accounts in replies[4]. Daily Dot's 2019 explainer laid out how users were trying to tell the two apart[4]. ### Is Bernie Bot still popular? Peak usage ran through the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primaries, with the most-cited coverage dated between March 2017 and February 2019[1][5]. After the 2020 cycle, the term mostly appeared in retrospectives rather than live arguments. ## References 1. [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-fake-news-russia_us_58c34d97e4b0ed71826cdb36]() 2. [https://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/russians-used-bernie-bros-as-unwitting-agents-in-disinformation-campaign-senate-intel-witness/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bernie-bot]() 4. [https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/bernie-bro-bernie-bot-twitter-harassment/]() 5. [https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018]() 6. [https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/67419246/]() 7. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bernie%20Bot]() 8. [https://twitter.com/missmayn/status/1097917567702683648]() 9. [https://twitter.com/igorvolsky/status/1097919751525986305]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/bernie-bot Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library