The electoral matters committee is expected to hold a public hearing in Canberra on Wednesday to launch the inquiry, sparked by concerns the next federal election could the target of social media manipulation.

The inquiry will look at:

* the extent to which social media bots may have targeted Australian politics;

* the likely sources of social media manipulation within Australia and internationally;

* ways to address the spread of deliberately false news online during elections; and

* measures to improve the media literacy of Australian voters.

Twitter took action earlier this year to stop people posting identical messages from multiple accounts, cracking down on a tactic used by Russian agents during the 2016 US presidential election.

The social media giant also stopped people using software to simultaneously perform actions such as liking or retweeting from multiple accounts, as well as removed thousands of fake accounts.

Researchers say Twitter bots spread propaganda before the 2016 US elections and have continued to engage in US politics.

Russian individuals and companies were charged in February over having a "strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system".

In September, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed his company had identified and removed fake accounts ahead of elections in France, Germany, Alabama, Mexico, and Brazil.

It had also found and taken down foreign influence campaigns from Russia and Iran attempting to interfere in the US, UK, Middle East, as well as groups in Mexico and Brazil active in their own countries' political systems.

The US has imposed sanctions on foreign countries or people who attempt to interfere in its political process.

Sanctions include freezing assets, restricting foreign exchange transactions, limiting access to US financial institutions, and banning US citizens from investing in companies involved.

Australian Associated Press