The characterization and detection of social bots with their presumed ability to manipulate society on social media platforms have been subject to many research endeavors over the last decade, leaving a research gap on the impact of bots and accompanying phenomena on platform users and society. In this systematic data-driven study, we explore the users' perception of the construct bot at a large scale, focusing on the evolution of bot accusations over time. We create and analyze a novel dataset consisting of bot accusations that have occurred on the social media platform Twitter since 2007, providing insights into the meanings and contexts of these particular communication situations. We find evidence that over time the term bot has moved away from its technical meaning to become an "insult" specifically used in polarizing discussions to discredit and ultimately dehumanize the opponent.

翻译：过去十年间，社交媒体机器人及其据称具备操控社会能力的特征识别与检测研究层出不穷，却未充分探究机器人及相关伴随现象对平台用户与社会的实际影响。本研究采用系统性数据驱动方法，大规模解析用户对“机器人”这一构念的认知演变，聚焦于“机器人”指控随时间变化的规律。我们构建并分析了自2007年以来Twitter平台上发生的机器人指控新型数据集，揭示了这些特殊沟通情境的语义内涵与语境特征。研究发现，随着时间的推移，“机器人”一词已脱离其技术本义，演变为一种特定用于极化讨论中的“侮辱性标签”，用以诋毁并最终非人化对立观点持有者。