Twitter suspends thousands of accounts for bot behavior; some cry censorship

Right-wing tweeters see thousands of followers purged for “suspicious account behavior.”

Read the whole story

 

[trs8]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

I'm sure Twitter's detection criteria is more than whether or they agree with you

 

[9jack9]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

Twitter isn't a public forum... nobody has a 'right' to use it, Twitter can moderate their platform as they wish, in their own best interests. Sucks if non-bots got caught up in this, and they certainly can complain about it, but let's not grasp straws saying Twitter is taking away people's rights here.

 

[IntellectualThug]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

I doubt many. The tools these companies employ are driven by algorithmic analysis of known bots and bad actors. There are probably false positives, but not many. Accusations by someone who doesn't like your opinions are a far cry from triggering an automated account suspension. I had it happen on Reddit due to a bot culling and it took 15 minutes to request they unlock it and have it fixed.

 

[grommit!]

No comment :facepalm:

https://twitter.com/KaraCalavera/status ... 9210187777

 

[HiroTheProtagonist]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

I'm admittedly left-leaning, but I too would like to see how many legitimate users were purged/how many "bots" were following liberal posters.

 

[MartinH]

I find it funny that people are publicizing the fact that they lost followers in this cull.

"Half of my followers were actually Russian bots!"

 

[OptimusP83]

While I'm sure Janna Deplorable is a *lovely* person...

The thing is, you're not going to please these people. While I think Twitter being more open about how it flags users as bots is something they need to do, I don't think all the openness in the world will stop these moron's "ZOMG CENSORSHIP!" rallying cry. They (and their followers) appear to be immune from logic and reasoning...

 

[Kane2207]

Well, before this decends into chaos with the Freeze Peach extremists, remember - it’s Twitters platform, they can do whatever they want.

If you tried to stand in my front yard and carry on like some of these Twits do, I’d tell you to fuck off too.

 

[j17robotdancer]

HAHAHA little snowflakes can't handle all their many fake accounts getting deleted.

 

[Chemical Tribe]

Hey, as long as they agree with you, what do they care? I mean, there is Peter Thiel...

 

[OptimusP83]

No comment :facepalm:

https://twitter.com/KaraCalavera/status ... 9210187777

Good lord that is depressing... The world we live in today is just... GAH!

 

[samred]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

Digital terrorism is already in full swing. Just like in the early '00s, when Americans couldn't board a plane or go to a football game without freaking out, now we are increasingly finding reasons to not trust what seemed like simple, predictable online interactions. And nobody's talking about it.

Worse, any trolling operation with a real budget is already three steps ahead. Somebody's still out there, putting forth effort to build legitimate-looking accounts that, after a few taps, prove to be totally lacking in organic interactions. They have intelligent-sounding sentences and an apparent identity, but they also mostly focus on RTing stuff of a certain political bent AND sending @replies only to verified accounts. And they're definitely not limited to one political party of thought.

I continue to monitor and point these out at my Twitter account, @samred. Feel free to join me for the paranoid shouting (or send us examples of apparent farms and made-up content on ANY side of the political divide).

NINJA EDIT: Oh, and I am suspicious of similar actors lurking in Ars' comment threads and forums. Don't be shy about sending any hints/tips in that regard to us, longtime readers.

 

[LuDux]

Conservatives lose fake followers, freak out. Special snowflake much?

 

[DarthSlack]

Well, before this decends into chaos with the Freeze Peach extremists, remember - it’s Twitters platform, they can do whatever they want.

If you tried to stand in my front yard and carry on like some of these Twits do, I’d tell you to fuck off too.

I don't see how it is even a Freeze Peach issue. All Twitter is doing is shutting down bots, they aren't hitting the upstream ability to post. Well, unless you violate their TOS.

 

[gijames1225]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

I am guessing the pro-Sanders and pro-Clinton bots were purged as well, but I think Democrats and liberals feel much more secure about Twitter and aren't freaking out over it.

 

[Renzatic]

I don't see how it is even a Freeze Peach issue. All Twitter is doing is shutting down bots, they aren't hitting the upstream ability to post. Well, unless you violate their TOS.

This is a chance to get my self righteousness on on the internet. Whatever the real reason behind all this is, I'm gonna play the victim to garner more followers.

 

[firsttimecaller]

people are so preoccupied with numbers they don't care if the followers are real.

 

[MosquitoBait]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

Twitter isn't a public forum... nobody has a 'right' to use it, Twitter can moderate their platform as they wish, in their own best interests. Sucks if non-bots got caught up in this, and they certainly can complain about it, but let's not grasp straws saying Twitter is taking away people's rights here.

I never said such a thing. Not even close. I don't even disagree that it needed to be done. I am simply questioning/opening up debate on how effective the blanket banning was.

No you're not. Your post was clearly leading.

 

[Kane2207]

I find it funny that people are publicizing the fact that they lost followers in this cull.

"Half of my followers were actually Russian bots!"

Not as funny as that dumbass congressman/senator in the US that was notified he had interacted with Russian bots.

He was very chest-out, “finally, Twitter takes this seriously”, whilst the rest of us went, “the letter clearly states you’re a tool and useful idiot”.

Priceless.

 

[Mustachioed Copy Cat]

Finding out that the alt-right echo chamber was any quantity of bots is a relief.

Of course, Janna Deplorable (who appears to be mostly cured animal hide stretched across the sharpest human skeleton ever made, with had logical effects on that creature's brain) still has 33k followers.

Then again, she's following 33.5k. Maybe if you assume reciprocal followings, you're left with 5000 like-minded Sons and Daughters of Old Leech.

 

[ten91]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

I doubt many. The tools these companies employ are driven by algorithmic analysis of known bots and bad actors. There are probably false positives, but not many. Accusations by someone who doesn't like your opinions are a far cry from triggering an automated account suspension. I had it happen on Reddit due to a bot culling and it took 15 minutes to request they unlock it and have it fixed.

Funny thing is. If twitter just did a random sampling of bots and the majority of the ones chosen acted on behalf of Alt-Right users; then the majority of the false positives will be on alt-right accounts who would tend to post the same as the bots.

 

[IntellectualThug]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

I am guessing the pro-Sanders and pro-Clinton bots were purged as well, but I think Democrats and liberals feel much more secure about Twitter and aren't freaking out over it.

I also think there are wayyy more bots backing Trump's side than anyone else given how deeply disliked he is according to polls. I don't think he'd have been much more than a primary punchline without the support he drew from Russian manipulation of public opinion.

 

[Chemical Tribe]

So how many did the Trump's lose?

 

[gijames1225]

So how many did the Trump's lose?

Not enough

 

[azazel1024]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

Digital terrorism is already in full swing. Just like in the early '00s, when Americans couldn't board a plane or go to a football game without freaking out, now we are increasingly finding reasons to not trust what seemed like simple, predictable online interactions. And nobody's talking about it.

Worse, any trolling operation with a real budget is already three steps ahead. Somebody's still out there, putting forth effort to build legitimate-looking accounts that, after a few taps, prove to be totally lacking in organic interactions. They have intelligent-sounding sentences and an apparent identity, but they also mostly focus on RTing stuff of a certain political bent AND sending @replies only to verified accounts. And they're definitely not limited to one political party of thought.

I continue to monitor and point these out at my Twitter account, @samred. Feel free to join me for the paranoid shouting (or send us examples of apparent farms and made-up content on ANY side of the political divide).

NINJA EDIT: Oh, and I am suspicious of similar actors lurking in Ars' comment threads and forums. Don't be shy about sending any hints/tips in that regard to us, longtime readers.

And it'll likely only get worse as AI gets more advanced. We aren't remotely close to sentient AI, but we are well past Turing test level AI (at least on the surface, as you pointed out).

At some point I doubt AI will be distinguishable from a real person no matter how hard you dig short of some real down and dirty Blade Runner type psycho analysis.

 

[Bicentennial Douche]

Oh, what a shame. I might shed a tear or two. Might.

 

[Kane2207]

Well, before this decends into chaos with the Freeze Peach extremists, remember - it’s Twitters platform, they can do whatever they want.

If you tried to stand in my front yard and carry on like some of these Twits do, I’d tell you to fuck off too.

I don't see how it is even a Freeze Peach issue. All Twitter is doing is shutting down bots, they aren't hitting the upstream ability to post. Well, unless you violate their TOS.

It’s not, I’m just being proactive with where I see this going by page 3

 

[msawzall]

Someone hit ctrl-alt-del during my "hello world" loop.

CENSORSHIP!

 

[charlie don't surf]

Probably lots of commercial bots were removed too.

NYTimes: The Follower Factory

 

[IGoBoom]

Thoughts and prayers for all the deleted bots.

 

[Statistical]

some aligned with "alt-right" white supremacist figures such as Richard Spencer started the #TwitterLockOut and #TwitterPurge hashtags

Richard Spencer is a white supremacist. He believes in the superiority of one race over another. Don't let him hide behind the term alt-right even with scare quotes. AP current policy is to use the accurate terminology to identify bigots I would recommend Conde Nast do the same.

 

[blablobbob]

No comment :facepalm:

https://twitter.com/KaraCalavera/status ... 9210187777

Good lord that is depressing... The world we live in today is just... GAH!

I swear, I'm dumber from having clicked on that twitt. I really can't deconstruct what that bot was trying to say. It was like it was spoken aloud by a powerbook 5300 to a windows95 voice recognition system.

 

[Resolute]

Of interest is how narcissistic and self-absorbed people that had 82,000 followers are that they noticed immediately they lost 1.2% of that total.

 

[MosquitoBait]

Thoughts and prayers for all the deleted bots.

Why would you give them that?! They deserve nothing! Oh, wait... that /is/ nothing. Carry on...

 

[Fatesrider]

I know a lot of people here will think this is fine and dandy. I do wonder how many of those accounts were really legitimate people who were "expressive" in their political opinions. I have even been called a Russian bot and I rarely post on social media.

Twitter isn't a public forum... nobody has a 'right' to use it, Twitter can moderate their platform as they wish, in their own best interests. Sucks if non-bots got caught up in this, and they certainly can complain about it, but let's not grasp straws saying Twitter is taking away people's rights here.

Given how many people bitch about "their rights" when using a private company's property and services, one has to seriously wonder what schools they went to that didn't explain the difference between a "corporate service" and a "constitutional right".

Moreover, one has to wonder how anyone can possibly conflate the two.

Even worse, these are invariably the same people who, if they had their way, would eliminate many current civil rights in the first place.

I recommend for those who don't want to get kicked off of Twitter to either stop blasting the Internet with hate and propaganda using businesses who offer free services or go start up their own damned company so they can sit there and vomit any bullshit that comes to mind.

After all, freedom of speech doesn't entitle one to use another's bullhorn if that other doesn't like what's being said.

Scary that one has to explain this to people...