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Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

bbc.com

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Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#161

Post by CM30 »

OliverJones wrote: post #20

Huh. The landline telephone business has, for a long time now, been compromised by spammers and bots (telemarketing calls and robocalls). I canceled my land line about four years ago after going for three months without receiving a single call I wanted. It seems the commercial social networks are headed for the same fate. And, they're headed for hardnosed and unpleasant regulation by governments. They probably need t…

The internet's been heading for this fate for a while. Yes, the scale is a lot bigger now (30,000 fake accounts in a network rather than a few hundred), but similar things have been common on large forums and online communities since the late 90s or so.

People have bought fake traffic, users and comments for that amount of time too. Often en mass with automated systems importing it from third parties like Yahoo Answers.

It's just that the commercial social networks are now the main target, and the scale of these operations has gone up accordingly.

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#162

Post by ReverseCold »

andai wrote: post #108
iamatworknow wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You need to scroll down at least 5 load-more's to see regular people tweets. I personally don't find much added value in those tweets, "regular people" or not. They're basically YouTube comment level at this point.

And it was at this moment andai that realised, that YouTube comments are written by regular people.

Oh really? I've seen a lot of bot like activity

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#163

Post by d0mine »

sigmar wrote: post #76
jashkenas wrote: post #28

I would imagine that it's possible that some of the people reading these comments might already know a lot more detail about Twitter/Facebook bots than this story goes into. Although you fine folks might remember me from a few other projects, I'm currently a Graphics Editor at The New York Times. We're actively curious and interested in pursuing lines of inquiry about this sort of behavior, and if any HN'ers have any…

These bots (and human run trolling accounts) have been widely reported on[1], but by many different organizations in different languages. Which seems to have made it not as widely known as it should be. I still see people arguing on twitter with what is clearly a bot. I would like to see someone write the story of the overarching result of what a world will look like in an increasing internet-focused world, when disi…

Try to remember the last time you heard anything positive about Russia.

Consider how it is compatible with the existence of Putin's troll army.

At the very least try to imagine the relative scale of money/power involved in the propaganda in the West compared to the rest of the world. (for reference, check military spendings)

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#164

Post by monk_e_boy »

brilliantcode wrote: post #68
apocalyptic0n3 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but I previously worked for a company that did this. We had tens of thousands of fake accounts on both Twitter and Facebook and had a script that would have them all (or specific sets) follow the same account at random points over the course of a few days (to avoid giving the client a few thousand followers instantly, which might draw attention). I can't remember full details since I wasn't involved, but…

what was the result? did it work out?

not op, but this is essentially what SEO boils down to. More links to your site from legitimate sites with high page rank push your site up the natural listings.

It doesn't matter how 'pure' a site is, you can still buy a link, it just costs more.

It's all about looking at how the algorithm works, then gaming it. Tinker with Twitter and facebook, spend some money, keep the results secret. Sell this information. Do what works to your clients.

Bot nets work. For now. Does Twitter want to kill them? Maybe not, active accounts is a big number that they love to tell people.

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#165

Post by inopinatus »

facetube wrote: post #153
avip wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just approach the providers - they have nothing to hide, they are not involved in any illegal activity, and they'll be very happy to have their name dropped in NYT. "Buy social media followers" is a straightforward business.

What sort of ethical framework permits this?

Some ethical frameworks deal in prohibiting/limiting behaviours rather than granting permission.

One could argue this is even preferable. Interestingly, as a line of inquiry, it leads to having philosophical difficulties with the Bill of Rights.

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#166

Post by tw04 »

d0mine wrote: post #163
sigmar wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These bots (and human run trolling accounts) have been widely reported on[1], but by many different organizations in different languages. Which seems to have made it not as widely known as it should be. I still see people arguing on twitter with what is clearly a bot. I would like to see someone write the story of the overarching result of what a world will look like in an increasing internet-focused world, when disi…

Try to remember the last time you heard anything positive about Russia. Consider how it is compatible with the existence of Putin's troll army. At the very least try to imagine the relative scale of money/power involved in the propaganda in the West compared to the rest of the world. (for reference, check military spendings)

>Try to remember the last time you heard anything positive about Russia.

Why would you assume the troll army is trying to make "Russia" look good? It's far more likely they would focus on individual goals like keeping the US out of Ukraine. Or making us look bad on the international stage to other countries. They don't need to look good, they just need us to look bad. Putin isn't an idiot, no amount of propaganda is going to change the fact that some of what happens in Russia will never be accepted by the rest of the world. He just needs to look better than the alternative. It's far easier to make us look bad than himself look good.

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#167

Post by anigbrowl »

chinathrow wrote: post #119
_pecl wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally have thousands of Twitter accounts I control just for fun; I mostly use them for pranks, though in aggregate there are a few million followers between them (not sure how many duplicates there are, or, ironically, how many of their followers are bots). You can even buy software to create and manage Twitter accounts pretty easily in blackhat forums. For mine, I scraped a bunch of Instagram pictures for pho…

You are one of the reasons why we don't have nice things. Read the ToS and respect them, please. Thank you.

It's sad that you're being downvoted for this.

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#168

Post by anigbrowl »

_pecl wrote: post #72
jashkenas wrote: post #28

I would imagine that it's possible that some of the people reading these comments might already know a lot more detail about Twitter/Facebook bots than this story goes into. Although you fine folks might remember me from a few other projects, I'm currently a Graphics Editor at The New York Times. We're actively curious and interested in pursuing lines of inquiry about this sort of behavior, and if any HN'ers have any…

I personally have thousands of Twitter accounts I control just for fun; I mostly use them for pranks, though in aggregate there are a few million followers between them (not sure how many duplicates there are, or, ironically, how many of their followers are bots). You can even buy software to create and manage Twitter accounts pretty easily in blackhat forums. For mine, I scraped a bunch of Instagram pictures for pho…

You certainly invest a lot of effort in dishonesty. Not sure that's anything to be proud of, guy.

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#169

Post by tomc1985 »

chinathrow wrote: post #119
_pecl wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally have thousands of Twitter accounts I control just for fun; I mostly use them for pranks, though in aggregate there are a few million followers between them (not sure how many duplicates there are, or, ironically, how many of their followers are bots). You can even buy software to create and manage Twitter accounts pretty easily in blackhat forums. For mine, I scraped a bunch of Instagram pictures for pho…

You are one of the reasons why we don't have nice things. Read the ToS and respect them, please. Thank you.

Unbelievable -- "Hacker News" my ass

HN needs more of this type of comments, not less

Re: Massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter

#170

Post by apocalyptic0n3 »

brilliantcode wrote: post #68
apocalyptic0n3 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but I previously worked for a company that did this. We had tens of thousands of fake accounts on both Twitter and Facebook and had a script that would have them all (or specific sets) follow the same account at random points over the course of a few days (to avoid giving the client a few thousand followers instantly, which might draw attention). I can't remember full details since I wasn't involved, but…

what was the result? did it work out?

It was highly effective. Catapulted a few local businesses (I believe one gained enough exposure to open a second location) and a few temporary internet celebrities owed at least some of their fame to it.

That said, the latter example on YouTube was not effective at all, but that was probably because the content wasn't great.

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