I'm not sure I'm comfortable using the term "bots", but certainly more gamesmanship and "information warfare".

The Nautilus link that made it to the front page several days ago deeply disturbed me [1]. From a grumpy technical standpoint it did not have TLS by default or even a redirect.

More concerning though was that it was a SPONSORED advertorial that only ran because a fee was paid. Anyone who pointed this out was downvoted as the post accrued hundreds of upvotes and comments.

[1] - http://oceans.nautil.us/