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I genuinely wonder what's the real number. It is easy to find accounts that look like they could be bots, but I wonder what portions of those are just very dedi

by simias 6y ago

I genuinely wonder what's the real number. It is easy to find accounts that look like they could be bots, but I wonder what portions of those are just very dedicated individuals. I don't use social media a lot but I do regularly post on HN for instance. I don't know what my average message rate is but it's probably around 1 message/day. Now if I just wanted to spam my political agenda on the site (and the site let me do it) I could very easily copy/paste the same bullshit a hundred times a day on every story on the frontpage. If like 20 other people did the same thing the amount of noise we'd generate is pretty large Look at random fan wikis to see the amount of free work some dedicated individuals can achieve. I'm certain that many of these super active troll accounts are just that, dedicated individuals who feel very strongly about something and just spend 10 hours every day spamming and harassing and copy-pasting. If your output is like 100x that of a normal user (and you know how to game the algorithms to amplify your message) you don't need a huge number of accounts or automation to become a real nuisance.

lmeyerov 6y ago
We research this stuff - a lot of nation-state and financed activity is farms of low-paid people assisted by software running multiple and shared accounts. Misinfo analysts (including ML tools) can suspect this bc the accounts clock in & clock out and follow a talking points script. Except bc a low paid person is adding a human touch, account abuse teams see it and do nothing due to uncertainty, despite being against TOS. Sometimes it is more obvious. People had MAGA campaign apps that lets Trump's team remotely activate otherwise-legit social media accounts. So the account is real, but popular messages were bot behavior. Twitter is even less likely to want to take down such an account, despite the prohibited behavior.
- Balgair 6y ago
  I'm reminded of the quote: "There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists" - Ascribed to an unnamed Yosemite Park Ranger. The quote may never really have happened, but I think it fits here. If the people are intentionally acting as bots per the direction of other people, then what does that make the people acting as bots?

by simias 6y ago

lmeyerov 6y ago

We research this stuff - a lot of nation-state and financed activity is farms of low-paid people assisted by software running multiple and shared accounts. Misinfo analysts (including ML tools) can suspect this bc the accounts clock in & clock out and follow a talking points script. Except bc a low paid person is adding a human touch, account abuse teams see it and do nothing due to uncertainty, despite being against TOS. Sometimes it is more obvious. People had MAGA campaign apps that lets Trump's team remotely activate otherwise-legit social media accounts. So the account is real, but popular messages were bot behavior. Twitter is even less likely to want to take down such an account, despite the prohibited behavior.

Balgair 6y ago
I'm reminded of the quote: "There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists" - Ascribed to an unnamed Yosemite Park Ranger. The quote may never really have happened, but I think it fits here. If the people are intentionally acting as bots per the direction of other people, then what does that make the people acting as bots?