Twitter kills network of 5,000 pro-Trump bots linked to Saudi propaganda

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/04/23/twitter-kills-network-of-5000.html

The bot network repeatedly denounced the Mueller report as a ‘RussiaGate hoax.’

7 Likes

Because it is a hoax, grow up and meet these people on policy and actual morality based on virtue and the foundation of Truth and Justice. Ideaology and conspiracy theories aren’t going to happen and the time to stop forcing it was 2 years ago. This was meant to be wake-up call #2 you won’t get a 3rd one before 2020.

Now kill Twitter and the World will be a better place.

21 Likes

An investigation into the network is still ongoing, the spokeswoman said, but no determination has yet been made about who was behind the campaign.

** raises hand **
ooo, ooo, I know who was behind it!

“In cases such as this, attribution is difficult,” the spokeswoman noted.

mmmmm… not really.

5 Likes

Ooo. I wonder if that made the meeting awkward.

10 Likes

According to Washington Post the prez spent much of the meeting complaining that his follower count was dropping.

12 Likes

Probably be worse because there would be so many people complaining about how it was better with twitter.

Why Twitter isn’t killing eeeeevery account with a real human behind it is the better story. I got off Twitter precisely because it’s a engine of horeshit fueled by anonymity. (And I know I’ve got a nickname here, but I’m also not calling for genocide or crimes against humanity.)

Also, if Twitter can tell a bot from a human, why aren’t they killing all of them? Ah, yeah – profit. Sweet, luscious profit.

I’m tired of tech companies getting rich when my taxes clean up the messes they make – like election fraud, like hate speech, like bots being used as soldiers in a war of ideas – or, worse, when the messes don’t get cleaned up.

Twitter is clearly a publisher; we should force them to recognize that and be responsible. *

*“That would take money, and humans, and time!” Yeah, it would; tough for twitter. They can afford it.

4 Likes

We all know your real name, Elvis.

13 Likes

I was just uncurling my fingers to make the same response :slight_smile:

4 Likes

So considerate of Twitter to have provided a platform where all these scumbag regimes – Prince Bonesaw’s, the Shirtless Wonder’s, and Il Douche’s – can support one-another.

5 Likes

Why is the site at the center of this (aborting to the Ars article) a verified account?

2 Likes

There were some very fine bots in that bot network. Very fine bots on both sides.

12 Likes

twitter

7 Likes

So, um, did Twitter lure the bots into an embassy before killing them?

2 Likes

I’m mostly convinced the number of actual people using Twitter is tiny compared to its net “population”. It’s not an echo chamber, it’s an illusion factory.

5 Likes

with Capital T and J, even. I’m surprised you didn’t add (and the American Way) to your post, Superman.

4 Likes

I suspect 5,000 pro-Trump bots is a tiny fraction of the total. If Twitter would snap all of them, perhaps Trump would turn to dust?

4 Likes

You’re judging a cooking competition where two amateur chefs try to fool you into thinking Iron Chef Bobby Flay made their dishes. The two amateurs and Flay each cook a steak and the three steaks are brought before you, with no indication who cooked what.

Two of the steaks are cooked perfectly. One of the steaks is a chicken breast that’s raw in the middle.

I might not be able to tell which dish was prepared by Bobby Flay from that information alone, but I absolutely can identify one that wasn’t.

 

It’s easy to kill off the obvious bots, the low-hanging fruit, and if they’re being disruptive I say go for it. I wouldn’t go so far as to kill off all bots; if they’re not being disruptive, I say let them live.

1 Like