Are You Arguing With Robots?! 6 Ways to Spot a Bot

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.

Are you wasting time arguing with robots? Probably.
Here’s a quick and dirty guide on 6 ways to spot bots or paid actors, which will save you time and a fortune on blood pressure medication.
••••••

We’ve all been there. You’re scrolling through social media when suddenly it hits you like a bug on a windshield, SPLAT

“What’s THIS?“

You lean in a little further, your heart pumping a little faster as you investigate the outrageous post or comment,

“Surely someone couldn’t possibly think THIS?!“

You jump on your trusty rationality steed and decide that some heroic enlightenment is needed – immediately. With all the hopes of a champion at the beginning of his quest, you think, “Surely this person just misunderstands. Perhaps with a bit of perspective and reason, they will change their view–“

And that’s where you stop.

Because the previously “misguided” person on the other end of the interwebs has now doubled down, becoming even more irrational; a dragon of illogical vitriol.

But the village needs you. So you continue to engage with this dragon, poke at it, try to find a way to reach it, try to find a way through it, try to prove all the possible reasons why it shouldn’t be a dragon…

Yet it remains.

Now, burnt and wearisome, you’re more confused than ever. You think, “How could a person ever become so illogical, so stubborn, so hateful, so downright disagreeable?”

…Perhaps that person is not a person at all.
…Perhaps that person is a robot.
•••••

Skynet, Is That You?

Let’s pull back our reigns for a second. I’m not talking about dehumanizing people we disagree with in life. The goal with genuine human beings who don’t have the same viewpoints, is to disagree and discuss in a way that still respects the other person. Otherwise, you might “win” the argument, but you’ll never have changed anyone’s minds or learned. But, thats a discussion for another time.

Right now, I’m talking about arguing with either:
1) Paid Actors
or
2) Bots.

It took me awhile to spot this. Through the years, I’ve learned to evaluate brand partners by weeding out the amount of their audience and interactions that are fake vs how much is real engagement. (Often some shady marketer will pump up the vanity numbers with fake accounts, but this hurts the brand long term. A lot. Slow and steady wins the race). Over the years, I’ve become quite good at spotting authenticity and actual value, instead of vanity metrics. It’s become second nature to spot real humans vs fake accounts. However, I never thought about applying these skills outside the business arena.

Then, 2020 hit.

With it came the usual crazy back and forth fake news deluge, just more intense. For sanity’s sake, I began occasionally looking into the accounts posting the more illogical, usually hateful, comments.

What did I find?

Almost every single one of these politically charged and divisive comments, was either a potential paid actor or an actual robot. I was shocked.

Now, I’ve had my share of engaging accidentally with bots on platforms like twitter around topics of constitutional rights, but it seemed things were ramping up in 2020 on every level…or perhaps I was getting more aware.

“Surely a bot would be easy to recognize, the beeps and boops alone would give it away!”

While many bot accounts are very easy to spot, some are rather sophisticated or even a hybrid of bot/human. A hybrid occurs when the bot is trained to respond in a certain way, and once stuck, the human jumps in to save the interaction and make it look more authentic. Yet bot comments can often make just enough sense to keep you engaging with them, even without a human stepping in. Bots have become rather sophisticated. One guy even taught his bot to write a form of greek tragedy:

Then of course, there’s the good ole fashion paid accounts. They aren’t fake in the literal sense. Often these are real people, paid to follow many people, keywords, or hashtags using services that enable bots to crawl the platform for those keywords – even within images. Once their keyword is triggered, they are paid to “authentically” engage, usually using a certain parameter of script for the ideology they represent.

Danger, Will Robinson

Here’s the secret they don’t want you to know:

All of these inauthentic accounts exist to make people with opposing ideas feel alone.
They exist to make people with opposing ideas feel exhausted and surrounded.
They exist to amplify their idea to a fabricated volume. They exist to bully people into silence.

And they are quite effective.

No one likes to feel like the odd man out. Even fewer will stand up for what they believe is right, when they feel they stand alone. Classic suppression tactics.

That’s why I’m shedding light on these tactics.
There is still hope. In fact, there is more hope once we realize what we are up against. After all, no one works hard to silence a threat, if it is not a threat at all.
Between constant censorship and social manipulation, certain rational freedom ideals must be powerful indeed.

Once we realize the dragon may only be a figment of someone else’s imagination, we can overcome it. You see, this kind of social dragon only has power in our minds. It seems HUGE. But its size has no consequence, when we know the dragon is a lie. Then it has no stronghold in our minds. It has no power over us. We can continue to voice the truth, no matter how hot its fires rage.

Never back down because of peer pressure. Your thoughts are your thoughts, and you have the right to voice them.
We want to keep the ideals of free speech alive, away from “cancel culture”, as thoughts bullied into silence don’t change, they just hide behind the curtain of the mind. They’re still there, growing even stronger. It’s important we continue to authentically voice our minds. Don’t fall for the bots and bullies trying to make you feel alone.

How To Spot A Bot

You must be armed with the right tools to spot “fake/inauthentic” accounts. While this is not an exact science (without spending way too much time and investigation into each account) here are 6 quick ways to spot a questionably authentic account:

1. They Follow Thousands of Accounts – The average person follows between a few hundred to a little over 1000 accounts if they are very active. Bots almost always follow thousands of accounts, especially on platforms like instagram. Paid actors almost always follow thousands of accounts too, as this is one of the ways they get paid. This is the biggest tip off of that something’s fishy.

2. They Have Very Few Posts, Yet Lots of Followers – Often you’ll see a profile with maybe 1-5 generic posts, sometimes all posted in a short time period or long ago. Maybe no posts at all! Yet they have hundreds to thousands of followers. Now, this could still be a real person with a lot of real friends simply choosing to follow their account online. Or, it could be a tip off for a bot. Follower count comes with a trust level to it, and it’s a good way to try to fool others and the algorithm into thinking the account is authentic.

3. A Non-Descript Profile Photo and Description – Maybe this is a sunset, or maybe it’s nothing at all. Maybe they have a one line description, something fluffy and inspirational. This is a possible tip-off. Most real humans on social media want people to know as much about them as possible, or at least be intrigued to follow them in some way. Not bots or paid actors. The less attention the better.

4. Their Account is Private – Not a huge indication, as many people choose to have private accounts for good reasons. But this could be a hint if other factors listed are true. Checking into their followers list can also reveal if they are authentic or not, using the same tests for their followers as are in this list. One note: just because someone has some fake looking followers, does not mean they are inauthentic. Everyone has some fake followers lightly sprinkled in now and then, as the bot game is real. Bots deliberately follow authentic accounts to trick the algorithms. However, if an account has mostly fake followers, or a ton of fake followers in a row, something is fishy.

5. Their Account is Completely Obsessive – Sure, people are passionate about a lot. However, if some of the other tests apply, and they are also completely obsessed with their ideology, it’s possible they are not authentic. Most humans not gearing their accounts towards hobby or business, are a mix of things on instagram. If the account falls neatly into all the political identity politics and belief systems then at best they are a hard headed and possibly close minded soul, at worst they are paid to “represent”, and are not even real.

6. They Repeat Themselves – If you visit their account, and they repeat the mantras of their chosen ideology over and over – they might just be a person who is a bit brainwashed. Look at their interaction history and comment sections. If they repeat themselves over and over almost verbatim in their comments/tweets/posts, they are probably a bot/paid actor – or at best a spammer. Next.

•••••

This isn’t a complete list of ways to tell a fake account. There are many more. This is simple short hand, in order to get a quick gist of who you may be dealing with, before you blow a blood vessel and lose faith in humanity.

If you know some other ways to tell a bot or paid account, or have experience arguing with bots too, please share your thoughts in the comments of this post for the rest of the community to read. We are stronger together!

Hello, Sarah Connor.

Warning: if you call out a bot call out its questionable actions. If you call an account a bot directly, even if you are certain it’s a bot, do so at your own risk. Some platforms ban people for “dehumanization”, which ironically includes calling a bot a bot, especially twitter. Proceed at your own risk, but it is still very important to point out the accounts questionable actions, as that helps forge the path back towards sanity for everyone.

Finally, please take a deep breath with me.

While this may be a shock to those who were not aware before of the massive prevalence of rather sophisticated bots and paid actors, it is my hope in writing this article that it actually relieves stress from your day. I hope you will be able to spot inauthentic interactions immediately, and regain some hope… Or maybe just some time!

Be vocal, be active, vote for your beliefs, be kind. But don’t waste your time with bots, paid actors, or maybe even those that look a lot like them… hard stuck in their beliefs. Your time is better spent elsewhere with the many individuals who are still open to listening to thoughtful discourse.

Remember, there is a concerted effort that wants us to divide, despair, feel alone, and give up hope. Do not let them fool you! We are more united than we realize, keep going.

Stay Sharp My Friends, Kirsten

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