But I can explain why: they need to blend-in to build trust with other group participants and so become more persuasive when they are trying to influence, and a

But I can explain why: they need to blend-in to build trust with other group participants and so become more persuasive when they are trying to influence, and also to avoid bot detection. The influence might also be much more subtle than talking about political topics, such as just being continuously negative or argumentative to bring down the moods of the targeted people.