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Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

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Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#21

Post by learnstats2 »

non-entity wrote: post #4

Easiest way I've found to spot bots on Twitter is username patterns where both the handle and display name are similar or the same with 1 or 2 words (often a first and last name) and a random number. For example JohnDoe127474 . For a more realistic example: I just went to the first trending semi-poltical topic and this was the first bottish account I found (the tweet itself is pretty benign): https://twitter.com/Elsi…

This is the automated handle style that Twitter gives you if you don't specify or if your first choice is not available and you click through without realising this.

So that can also apply to naïve users.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#23

Post by skykooler »

pjc50 wrote: post #12
Lendal wrote: post #7

Most of this article is talking about fake photos, not fake Twitter accounts. He goes on to say that if you use your Twitter account for politics, then you are fake. The only thing I agree with is 766 posts in a week is extreme and is an indicator of bot-like activity.

Only tweeting politics is a flag too; real humans have more than one interest. Another indicator that's non-obvious is posting time distribution. Humans can't post 24h a day. But on the other hand if they're all in a 8h window, that person is posting from work - are these posts their job?

It's a flag, but not necessarily a sure indicator. For example, I have a separate twitter account I only use for political discussions, so that the replies I get don't overwhelm the other things I'm interested in.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#24

Post by osrec »

volak wrote: post #16

I think its interesting that Twitter has the capability to automatically and instantly tag tweets or accounts as being written by third party apps Yet they choose not to

Yes, I am perplexed by this. I have noted an insane number of bots commenting positively on Donald Trump's twitter account. It's obvious they're bots because of the username, lack of other activity, spelling and grammatical mistakes (due to phrases being directly translated from Russian).

P.S. Whenever I mention the above on here, I am subject to a barrage of down votes. Almost as if bots are searching HN comments and trying to down vote anything that is negative towards Trump. If this gets down voted heavily, it'll confirm my suspicions yet again...

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#25

Post by dhosek »

non-entity wrote: post #4

Easiest way I've found to spot bots on Twitter is username patterns where both the handle and display name are similar or the same with 1 or 2 words (often a first and last name) and a random number. For example JohnDoe127474 . For a more realistic example: I just went to the first trending semi-poltical topic and this was the first bottish account I found (the tweet itself is pretty benign): https://twitter.com/Elsi…

There's one real person in my Twitter environment (I don't follow him, but we follow and interact with a lot of the same people so the algorithm shows me his tweets a fair amount) who has a handle something like John415141. I think he chose that handle ironically.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#26

Post by mannykannot »

petargyurov wrote: post #9

The biggest sign mentioned in the article is the insane number of tweets since the inception of the account - surely this must set off some alerts on Twitter's backend? I know that this is an extremely difficult problem to solve and that they probably ban accounts in waves but with something as obvious as this you'd think that the ban could/should come more swiftly...

Given the pressure that Elliott is putting on Dorsey to aggressively grow Twitter, I don't think it is likely that things will improve.

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/9/21171482/twitter-jack-do...

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#27

Post by dhosek »

osrec wrote: post #24
volak wrote: post #16

I think its interesting that Twitter has the capability to automatically and instantly tag tweets or accounts as being written by third party apps Yet they choose not to

Yes, I am perplexed by this. I have noted an insane number of bots commenting positively on Donald Trump's twitter account. It's obvious they're bots because of the username, lack of other activity, spelling and grammatical mistakes (due to phrases being directly translated from Russian). P.S. Whenever I mention the above on here, I am subject to a barrage of down votes. Almost as if bots are searching HN comments an…

I've seen that in some comments I made on another story. Not sure whether it's Russians or Russian bots or just HN-reading Trump fans.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#28

Post by codetrotter »

petargyurov wrote: post #9

The biggest sign mentioned in the article is the insane number of tweets since the inception of the account - surely this must set off some alerts on Twitter's backend? I know that this is an extremely difficult problem to solve and that they probably ban accounts in waves but with something as obvious as this you'd think that the ban could/should come more swiftly...

From what I’ve understood, the wave ban is partly because they don’t want the spammers to be able to figure out exactly what triggered the ban.

Re: Signs you're following a fake Twitter account

#30

Post by jsjddbbwj »

volak wrote: post #16

I think its interesting that Twitter has the capability to automatically and instantly tag tweets or accounts as being written by third party apps Yet they choose not to

I don't understand your comment. All tweets show, next to the timestamp, the client they were posted from. If you tap it, it brings you to a help article that explains what the field means. Unless you mean something else...
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