# Increase in bots following Trump on Twitter: new disinformation campaign coming? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 3, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039 "2017-06-03T21:19:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/1 "2017-06-03T21:19:21Z")
There was a flurry of attention to claims, a few days back, that Trump had gained over 5 million new Twitter followers in three days, and that most of them were bots: > [@](#): > > Donald Trump’s Twitter followers are growing. > And by ‘growing’, we mean he is gaining hundreds of new followers every minute. > But a large percentage of the followers have no picture… or tweets… or followers themselves. Oh, and pretty much all of the accounts were created in May 2017. > **[Has Donald Trump been buying followers on Twitter?](https://metro.co.uk/2017/05/30/has-donald-trump-been-buying-followers-on-twitter-6672610/#ixzz4iyUthnYP)** > > Around 50% of his followers are fake. Snopes looked into it and found that the 'five million in three days" claim was an exaggeration, but that the percentage of bot accounts following Trump has been rising: > [@](#): > > According to TwitterAudit, a web site that analyzes Twitter accounts, 51 percent of the president’s followers own authentic profiles. The quality of his following has deteriorated since his January 2017 inauguration. As of 29 January 2017, 73 percent of Trump’s followers were authentic Twitter users. Data generated by TwitterAudit shows as of 1 May 2017, 63 percent of Trump’s followers were authentic. > That number steadily degraded through the month of May … [Did President Trump's Twitter Account Gain Five Million New Bot Followers in Three Days? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/trump-new-bot-followers/) The determination that new accounts are probably bots is made by looking at elements such as: [ul] [li]Twitter handles that are merely dictionary words with a number added at the end[/li][li]No name posted[/li][li]Lack of profile photo[/li][li]No followers [/li][li]Follows no one else except the target (in this case, Trump)[/li][/ul] Timing of the making of accounts is another element (sites such as Twitter Audit don’t make all their methodology known). Trump has been known for having a larger percentage of fake followers than other political figures: > [@](#): > > Newsweek plugged Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, into Twitter Audit — a service that determines the authenticity of accounts — and found that 51 percent of Trump’s followers are real. > > Comparatively, about 79 percent of former President Barack Obama’s Twitter followers are real, according to Newsweek. But Obama’s personal account also has 89.3 million followers, compared with Trump’s 31.1 million. Obama actually has more fake followers overall than the current president even though his percentage is lower. > > Social Rank, a social media service, found that more than 900,000 “egg accounts,” or accounts without profile pictures, followed Trump in May alone. They also found that there was a dramatic increase in those accounts since February, with an 8 percent increase in “egg followers.” [http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335861-nearly-half-of-trumps-twitter-followers-are-fake-report](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335861-nearly-half-of-trumps-twitter-followers-are-fake-report) Fake Twitter followers were used by Russian agents to effect the 2016 election, according to some experts: > [@](#): > > In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year, former FBI agent Clint Watts described how Russian agents used Twitter bot armies to spread fake news during the election, including using accounts that appeared to belong to Republican voters from the Midwest.“That way whenever you’re trying to socially engineer them and convince them that the information is true, it’s much more simple because you see somebody and they look exactly like you, even down to the pictures,” Watts told the Senate committee … [Donald Trump's Fake Twitter Followers Spark Fears of a Bot War | Fortune](http://fortune.com/2017/05/31/trump-twitter-bot-war/) So, is a campaign underway to flood Twitter with pro-Trump disinformation that is also possibly anti-James Comey or anti-Special Counsel Robert Mueller? Why this build-up of fake accounts? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/2 "2017-06-03T21:30:52Z")
Putin has already told us why. It’s those patriotic Russians at it [del]again[/del] still. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/3 "2017-06-03T21:36:21Z")
So who’s behind all the Obama-bots? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/4 "2017-06-03T21:47:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So who’s behind all the Obama-bots? Malia. (j/k. Most of the articles about Trump’s bots do concede that many celebrities purchase fake followers–making it nothing to do with politics. What makes the Trump bots political is hinted at in the quote from Clint Watts in the OP–about making bots look like Midwesterners so that genuine Midwesterners would react along the lines of ‘hey, that guy is just like me, and he likes Trump! So maybe I should like Trump, too!’) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/5 "2017-06-03T21:50:47Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Putin has already told us why. It’s those patriotic Russians at it [del]again[/del] still. Yeah. I’m going to have trouble watching the Sunday night interview (on Megyn Kelly’s new show) without throwing a shoe at the tv, I can tell you. That guy is one smug, self-satisfied mischief-maker. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/6 "2017-06-03T22:28:05Z")
Call this crazy, but shouldn’t Twitter be doing something to prevent millions of bot accounts? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/7 "2017-06-03T22:28:32Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Most of the articles about Trump’s bots do concede that many celebrities purchase fake followers Why? Is it just to have the illusion of popularity? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/8 "2017-06-03T23:07:37Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Why? Is it just to have the illusion of popularity? Remember how he brags about the size of his…crowds? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/9 "2017-06-03T23:40:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Remember how he brags about the size of his…crowds? Yeah but that’s Donald Trump, hardly representative of a typical celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/10 "2017-06-03T23:47:28Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Why? Is it just to have the illusion of popularity? That’s the implication I’ve seen, though there might be commercial aspects involved. For example, a celeb with a new song or album to promote might want to bots to get involved with saying how glad they were they bought it on iTunes or the like. With the alleged Russian social-media ops in the 2016 election (and beyond), there would be reliance on the psychological “bandwagon effect”—to get people to say ‘hey, if THIS many voters think he’s wonderful, maybe I want to be one of his supporters, too.’ The Bandwagon Effect is certainly a real thing, even if difficult to measure. It’s seen in action in the stock market, particularly, besides its influence in politics and consumer behavior. > [@](#): > > … The bandwagon effect permeates many aspects of life, from stock markets to clothing trends to sports fandom. During the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s, dozens of tech startups emerged that had no viable business plans, no products or services ready to bring to market, and in many cases nothing more than a name (usually something tech-sounding with “com” or “net” as a suffix). Despite lacking in vision and scope, these companies attracted millions of investment dollars in large part due to the bandwagon effect. > The bandwagon effect happens frequently among fans when sports teams start winning. … [What Is the Bandwagon Effect? Why People Follow the Crowd](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bandwagon-effect.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/11 "2017-06-04T02:01:21Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > With the alleged Russian social-media ops in the 2016 election (and beyond), there would be reliance on the psychological “bandwagon effect”—to get people to say ‘hey, if THIS many voters think he’s wonderful, maybe I want to be one of his supporters, too.’ They were used to spread fake news, pro-Trump news and anti-hillary conspiracy theories too. One of the most important thing they do is, [not unlike many real life right wingers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=827578), turn any negative Trump news back on Hillary, Obama or liberals. So if a recording came out tomorrow where Trump said he hated gays, the bots would start pushing a fake news story where an Obama quote was taken out of context and sort of sounded like he said something bad about gays or something. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/12 "2017-06-04T02:15:14Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Remember how he brags about the size of his…crowds? Maybe that’s why he thought there were so many at his inauguration. He thought his underlings had to have bought enough fake supporters. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/13 "2017-06-04T05:46:16Z")
Shit, he might actually believe it. And that these stories about “bots” are all a bunch of lies. Just like he seems to genuinely believe that he would have won three to five million more popular votes but the Deep State cheated him. Who knows what squamous creatures slither in that mind? The rest of us, we get reality checks, we are surrounded by people who are not depending on us for their livelihood. People who don’t always smile when they see us, don’t always laugh at our jokes, and throw us reality checks. ---
**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/14 "2017-06-04T05:57:41Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Trump has been known for having a larger percentage of fake followers than other political figures: > > [http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335861-nearly-half-of-trumps-twitter-followers-are-fake-report](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335861-nearly-half-of-trumps-twitter-followers-are-fake-report) See, you read that and see an abnormally high number of bot followers. I read it and see roughly the right number of bot followers for a high profile account and an abnormally low number of actual people who give a shit about what he has to say on Twitter. If he had more bots than other high profile accounts like Obama’s, I’d say that might be relevant in some context–but the number itself is lower, and the only reason it’s a higher percentage is because the number of real people is (naturally) lower still. Any high profile Twitter account will attract a decent number of bots/fake profiles. (Heck, I’m far from that and I’ve attracted a small handful of them.) There’s no higher profile Twitter account right now than President Trump. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/15 "2017-06-04T17:49:38Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yeah. > > I’m going to have trouble watching the Sunday night interview (on Megyn Kelly’s new show) without throwing a shoe at the tv, I can tell you. That guy is one smug, self-satisfied mischief-maker. Yeah, Putin has pretty much resolved to troll the entire fucking planet. Trump is just his side bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/increase-in-bots-following-trump-on-twitter-new-disinformation-campaign-coming/788039/16 "2017-06-04T21:04:48Z")
> [@Debillw3](#): > > See, you read that and see an abnormally high number of bot followers. I read it and see roughly the right number of bot followers for a high profile account and an abnormally low number of actual people who give a shit about what he has to say on Twitter. > > If he had more bots than other high profile accounts like Obama’s, I’d say that might be relevant in some context–but the number itself is lower, and the only reason it’s a higher percentage is because the number of real people is (naturally) lower still… You find it meaningless that Trump’s percentage of fake followers is high (49%!) but others see it differently. In his March 30 (2017) testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Clint Watts, a fellow on national security and the Middle East at the Foreign Policy Research Institute since 2011, and a senior fellow at the Center For Cyber and Homeland Security at The George Washington University, said of such accounts: > [@](#): > > I began watching these influence operations in January 2014 after I co-authored an article in Foreign Affairs entitled “The Good and The Bad of Ahrar al Sham.” Hecklers appearing to be English-speaking Europeans and Americans trolled me for my stance on Syrian President Bashar Assad. But these social-media accounts, they didn’t look right—their aggression, persistence, biographies, speech patterns and synchronization were unnatural. He goes on to describe the differing types of pro-Russia accounts: honeypot, passionate political partisan, hecklers and trolls, etc. Russia has used the “active measures” strategy to promote its interests for decades, but it’s only since the advent of Twitter and Facebook that it has really taken off: > [@](#): > > Russia’s new and improved online Active Measures shifted aggressively toward U.S. audiences in late 2014 and throughout 2015. They launched divisive messages on nearly any disaffected U.S. audience. Whether it be claims of the U.S. military declaring martial law during the Jade Helm exercise, chaos amongst Black Lives matter protests, or tensions in the Bundy Ranch standoff in Oregon, Russia’s state-sponsored outlets of RT and Sputnik News, characterized as “white” influence efforts in information warfare, churned out manipulated truths, false news stories, and conspiracies. … From these overt Russian propaganda outlets, a wide range of English-language conspiratorial websites (“gray” outlets), some of which mysteriously operate from Eastern Europe and are curiously led by pro-Russian editors of unknown financing, sensationalize conspiracies and fake news published by white outlets further amplifying their reach in U.S. audiences. American-looking social-media accounts, the hecklers, honeypots, and hackers described above, working alongside automated bots further amplify and disseminate Russian propaganda amongst unwitting Westerners. Watts goes into detail about a bot attack he and his colleagues observed on one night in July of last year, related to an actually routine security detail outside the Incirlik NATO Air Base in Turkey–which was whipped up into a fake story of a mass terrorist attack. A bit of the account: > [@](#): > > More than 4,000 tweets in the first 78 minutes after launching of this false story linked back to the Active Measures accounts we’d tracked in the previous two years. These previously identified accounts, almost simultaneously appearing from different geographic locations and communities, amplified this fake news story in unison. The hashtags incrementally pushed by these automated accounts were #Nuclear, #Media, #trump and #Benghazi. All these brief excerpts from a lengthy testimony can be read at: [Clint Watts' Testimony: Russia’s Info War on the U.S. Started in 2014](http://www.thedailybeast.com/clint-watts-testimony-russias-info-war-on-the-us-started-in-2014)