Research, to date, has been sparse. However, research on propaganda goes back decades. Modern fake news is typically spread through social networks as “news,” which makes it different from state propaganda. What makes modern fake news more dangerous is the fact that modern technologies can make the issue worse due to bots saturating social networks. They will often increase fake-news messages. One study estimates that 9 to 15 percent of Twitter users are bots. Research suggests that they play a key role in spreading fake news.