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Twitter Now Lets You Report Accounts That You Suspect Are Bots (theverge.com)

Twitter is updating its reporting process to allow you to report accounts that you suspect are bots. "Now, when you tap the 'it's suspicious or spam' option under the report menu, you'll be able to specify why you think that, including an option to say 'the account tweeting this is fake,'" reports The Verge. From the report: Twitter announced the change through its official safety account today, and it's now live on both the web version and mobile version of the service. You can see an example of the mobile report flow pertaining to this update [via a tweet from @TwitterSafety.] According to a Twitter spokesperson, "The new reporting flow will allow us to collect more detailed information so we can identify and remove spam more effectively. With more details to review, we'll be adding more resources to our review processes."

110 comments

  1. Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every single tweet.
    It will be fun.

    1. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Maybe they want it to be abused. What a great way to compile a list of asshats whose reporting you can safely ignore? Other warning flags include the HTTP referer being 4chan.org or anon.to.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or slashdot.org

      No human reads slashdot

    3. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mah conservative values!1!

    4. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by markdavis · · Score: 1

      >"What a great way to compile a list of asshats whose reporting you can safely ignore?"

      +1 very good point. Almost like meta modding. Of course, this depends on if Twitter really does want to stop bots...

    5. Re: Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bleep bloop. ORANGE MAN BAD!

    6. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Your statement is false, my human friend.
      I am also human.

    7. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course they want it to be abused, they'll automate it with "sophisticated algorithms" (If reports >= 5 then account.disable()) so they can hold their hands up and say it's got nothing to do with staff politics.

      People will quickly learn how effective this is for silencing "the other side."

    8. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says the biggest leftist troll of them all.

    9. Re: Report RealDonaldTrump by Orange+Man+Bad · · Score: 1

      Yes yes because Twitter will them shut him down because you voted him a bot! Orange man bad!

    10. Re:Report RealDonaldTrump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every single tweet.
      It will be fun.

      You beat me to it...

  2. meh, Twitter is still cancer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As are pretty much all the socials. The sooner we drop this stuff and get back to real life the better

  3. Orange Man Bad!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I doubt even one of the NPC/Bot accounts which print pretty variations of 'orange man bad' will be banned, even if heavily reported.

    1. Re: Orange Man Bad!! by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      Yeah ... That's what it is genius. Most of the country doesn't know what a narcissistic sociopath and con man Trump is ... It's all bots. The deficit will shrink back to its pre-Trump size, jobs will start paying a livable wage, and we'll all get tax breaks just as soon as Mexico pays for that wall, and before the election even though Congress isn't in session and by the time it is Democrats will be the majority. I have bad news for you: Orange man bad; idiots been had; after the election Mueller is gonna make all the decent people glad.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    2. Re: Orange Man Bad!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Orange Man Bad! Mueller save us! Impeach! Flying rainbow unicorns! Chocolate rivers!

      You are soooo adorable! Muah!

    3. Re: Orange Man Bad!! by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      You suck at trolling.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  4. Can you also report NPC's? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would only be fair.

    1. Re:Can you also report NPC's? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If only Slashdot had a "Report Russian Troll" option. We could even automate it, anything that uses keyword of the month ("#walkaway", "NPC", etc)...

    2. Re:Can you also report NPC's? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish Slashdot would auto-ban anyone using fucking twitter hashtags.

    3. Re:Can you also report NPC's? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      is that what that is? thats dumb. i keep looking on irc for those channels...

  5. live hired goon bots from madison.ave.bullship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they've been polluting the discourse of j public since before any of us?

  6. Report everyone with a blue check by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At least that's what I would do if i had a twitter account

    1. Re:Report everyone with a blue check by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      As an active Twitter-avoider, what's a blue check?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Report everyone with a blue check by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just looked it up. Its a verified account but only available to 'influential accounts' so in essence I guess this means mainstream media mainly?

    3. Re:Report everyone with a blue check by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      As an active Twitter-avoider, what's a blue check?

      IIRC (and I'm not a user either) it was originally a way for twitter to indicate that they had verified the identity of famous or noteworthy people.

      Then they started pulling it from people who said things they don't like ...

  7. Bots that report real users as bots by shanen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think you [AmMoJo] have already been led down a wormhole by some AC troll. I see no reason to peek.

    My initial reaction is that the obvious problem will be with bots that are programmed to submit bot reports on real users. To maximize the confusion, they'll obviously program the bots to look for humans that act like bots so they can more plausibly report them. Of course the same data will be useful in modifying their attack bots to act more human to make them more difficult to detect and purge.

    My basic position is that Twitter is broken beyond redemption. MEPR (Multidimensional Earned Public Reputation) might be applicable to Facebook or even Slashdot, but Twitter is just FUBAR.

    Apparently the troll wanted to lead the discussion down some Trumpian road. I actually have a comment that is slightly germane on that topic, given that #PresidentTweety is the de facto king of Twitter:

    A good election is one between good candidates.
    A bad election is one where voters are choosing the lesser evil.
    The worst election is where the evil candidate "wins" by lying and assassinating the character of a good candidate.

    The saddest part? In theory, an election between a good and bad candidate should be a landslide for the good one. In practice, it too often becomes a worst case election decided by big money and corporate cancers investing in the bad candidate because he's cheap. On November 6th I think we'll find out how much democracy still exists in America.

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    1. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Agreed. If the Dems get creamed again then we know the polls are biased and intended to elect Dems by depressing Rep votes and money raising. If they eek out a victory with a platform that is little more than Orange Man Bad then democracy is dead.

    2. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Bots and fake accounts are like spam was a couple of decades ago. A seemingly very hard problem, and somehow people fall for the investment scams and pen1s enlargement pills even though it seems impossible that anyone could be that daft.

      It's a harder problem to solve than spam, not least because we have state level actors putting resources into it. But Twitter could do a hell of a lot more. These accounts often have really poor op-sec, e.g. posting photos with metadata showing Moscow time instead of where they claim to be. Twitter should have a decent sized team working to find and remove such accounts. Amateurs do it for fun, report the accounts and then Twitter demonstrates its incompetence by being unable to comprehend the evidence.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The USA is too stupid and probably too large for true democracy, it's good there are safety nets in place to overcome mob rule/popular vote

      It seems like botting would be a non issue, but it's become clear that the average citizen is far too easily manipulated, and it's become increasingly easy to reach the average citizen.

    4. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by Kiuas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The saddest part? In theory, an election between a good and bad candidate should be a landslide for the good one. In practice, it too often becomes a worst case election decided by big money and corporate cancers investing in the bad candidate because he's cheap.

      Yep. And for those who haven't read their history, this is by no means a new, or a US centered phenomenon. The father of political history Thucydides descried the political situation in island of Corsya after their civil war in 427 BC as all trust in the political system had been destroyed and the island turned to heavy partisanship thusly:

      So revolutions broke out in city after city, and in places where the revolutions occurred late the knowledge of what had happened previously in other places caused still new extravagances of revolutionary zeal, expressed by an elaboration in the methods of seizing power and by unheard-of atrocities in revenge. To fit in with the change of events, words, too, had to change their usual meanings. What used to be described as a thoughtless act of aggression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one’s unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action. Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of a real man, and to plot against an enemy behind his back was perfectly legitimate self-defense. Anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, and anyone who objected to them became a suspect. To plot successfully was a sign of intelligence, but it was still cleverer to see that a plot was hatching. If one attempted to provide against having to do either, one was disrupting the unity of the party and acting out of fear of the opposition. In short, it was equally praiseworthy to get one’s blow in first against someone who was going to do wrong, and to denounce someone who had no intention of doing any wrong at all. Family relations were a weaker tie than party membership, since party members were more ready to go to any extreme for any reason whatever. These parties were not formed to enjoy the benefits of the established laws, but to acquire power by overthrowing the existing regime; and the members of these parties felt confidence in each other not because of any fellowship in a religious communion, but because they were partners in crime. If an opponent made a reasonable speech, the party in power, so far from giving it a generous reception, took every precaution to see that it had no practical effect.

      Revenge was more important than self-preservation. And if pacts of mutual security were made, they were entered into by the two parties only in order to meet some temporary difficulty, and remained in force only so long as there was no other weapon available. When the chance came, the one who first seized it boldly, catching his enemy off his guard, enjoyed a revenge that was all the sweeter from having been taken, not openly, but because of a breach of faith. It was safer that way, it was considered, and at the same time a victory won by treachery gave one a title for superior intelligence. And indeed most people are more ready to call villainy cleverness than simple-mindedness honesty. They are proud of the first quality and ashamed of the second.

      Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils. To this must be added the violent fanaticism which came into play once the struggle had broken out. Leaders of parties in the cities had programs which appeared admirable—on one side political equality for the masses, on the other the safe and sound government of the aristocracy—but in professing to serve the public interest they were seeking to win the prizes for themselves. In their struggles for ascendancy nothing

      --
      "It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
    5. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, you know, you could just assume that not everything on the internet is legitimate and take it all with a grain of salt, because you are (ostensibly) not a fucking infant?

    6. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True democracy doesnâ(TM)t exist anywhere.

      Also the USA doesnâ(TM)t pretend to be one. Itâ(TM)s officially a constitutional republic.

    7. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MEPR is exactly the same thing as China's "social credit score". Fully automated cybernetic totalitarianism.

      Get out of here, slaver scumbag. No one wants the dystopian Nazi crap sandwich you're selling.

    8. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      when will /. allow for it?

    9. Re: Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      then we know the polls are biased and intended to elect Dems by depressing Rep votes and money raising.

      Actually it's the other way around. If you're the underdog, then you're going to try harder to win. There will be more Rep votes and money raising to make up for the deficit. So, in our current situation, I believe the polls will make the Dems complacent and not vote. The 2010 Tea Party is a good example of this where the Reps came back from a huge loss in 2008.

      We have nothing to worry about. The Dems will get creamed and not even win the House. The pollsters and Pelosi think that they have it in the bag. LOL. Little do they realize they're fucking the liberals over once again.

    10. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by Rob+Y. · · Score: 1

      Twitter and Facebook could go a long way toward minimizing the problem by limiting how many posts you can make on a thread - certainly on a thread that's not 'following' you. Or at very least, make you solve a captcha every 3 or 4 posts on such threads.

      --
      Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
    11. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by shanen · · Score: 1

      My suggestion with MEPR is essentially to make free accounts worth what you paid. In other words, I would be able to ignore them until they earned positive reputations. Actually I think the default visibility setting should be slightly positive, which would mean that trolls would have to make significant investments in creating credibility before anyone would even see them. I would actually prefer to set mine higher than the default in some dimensions, and perhaps lower in others.

      The data for the MEPR should be public and accessible. This would make it possible to trace the trust networks to actual people with long-established reputations.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    12. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by Raenex · · Score: 1

      On November 6th I think we'll find out how much democracy still exists in America.

      What, if they vote the "right" way, meaning what you think is right?

    13. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by shanen · · Score: 1

      Not sure why you are quoting the book at such length (though I read it many years ago and it was interesting to see it again), but the point is that Athens did divide and conquer itself and the human dynamics haven't changed that much since then, if at all. You could cite Caesar for the other side of it, how to divide and conquer from the outside.

      The scale of the problems has changed, however. The oscillations have become more severe. Even though the overall trend has been for things to get better, that's only the long-term average. On the short term, which is where we live, things could go below zero on one of the swings. There might be no recovery from a sufficiently negative oscillation.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    14. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by shanen · · Score: 1

      Can you explain how your comment is related to anything I wrote?

      Or should I merely dismiss you as the troll you appear to be and regard your fake discussion as terminated?

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    15. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by Raenex · · Score: 1

      I directly quoted you. Instead of calling me a troll, can you respond to the argument? Or will you just go back to your smug opinions?

      We have a democracy if people are free to vote, not based on what candidates are voted for.

    16. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 1

      Actually I think the default visibility setting should be slightly positive, which would mean that trolls would have to make significant investments in creating credibility before anyone would even see them

      Doesn't this mean EVERYONE starts out as a tr0ll, and that they are invisible to all others, unless of course someone chose to change their settings to allow them to see the "unwashed masses", but why would they ever do that? ..."before anyone would even see them", so, it would be a platform where only someone that somehow paid to be visible was visible, because why would you ever want to see the potential tr0lls when you could avoid that altogether. Instead, you just end up with tr0ll factories that are raising the reputations of their main tr0lls, or tr0lls that have somehow invested in other ways to become visible.

      Every system can be gamed, and this just sounds like another game waiting to be played by bad actors.

      I agree, it's an interesting thought, I'm just a guy that tries to pull things apart to find the reasons not to do something, so take it as that, not that I necessarily disagree with what you're trying to accomplish with the thought.

      HOLY FS!

      Filter error: Lameness filter encountered

      FUCK YOU SLASHDOT! Is that unlame enough for you?

      Repeated use of the word "troll" was what triggered the filter, hence using tr0ll. How lame. Sorry

    17. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Earned Public Reputation

      Pure fascism, already being practiced in China...

      In theory, an election between a good and bad candidate should be a landslide for the good one.

      First you have to nominate a good one. Trump won for lack of real opposition.

    18. Re:Bots that report real users as bots by shanen · · Score: 1

      Don't think of it as censoring newbies. Think of it as asking the young children to sit quietly and listen for a bit before they demand attention.

      (No, that is NOT my actual philosophy for dealing with REAL children. I think they deserve ALL the attention they want ALL the time. It's just not humanly possible to do that as well as it should be done.)

      Actually, one of the important dimensions is just age of the account, and the newbies would be free to chat among themselves and give themselves some positive evaluations, too. However I think the fastest path to higher reputation should be having sponsorship from a high-reputation friend--and that high-reputation friend should actually pay a reputational price for doing things like helping trolls get into discussions.

      To me the real question is whether such a system would sufficiently deter the trolls that the newbies would see a more pleasant environment as they are spending their time in low-reputation purgatory.

      By the way, that lameness filter you mentioned has obviously outlived its usefulness. At least I am unable to see that it has done anything to reduce the troll problem on Slashdot in particular let alone the worldwide problems of fake identities bearing fake news and other lies.

      Going completely off topic now, but here are the paired thoughts that most in my mind these days, and I feel like sharing them again:

      Good election = good candidates
      Bad election = bad candidates (and may the lesser evil win)
      Worst election = bad candidate lies and "wins" by destroying the good candidate

      Character assassination should not be the best campaign strategy. Our best hope for democracy right now appears to be the hope that November 6th is actually a 3-way election between:

      (1) Democratic candidates who want government of the people, by the people, for the people
      (2) GOP candidates who want government of the corporations, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% and
      (3) Trump who merely wants government of, by, and for the Donald

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  8. But are they RUSSIAN!!! bots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This more subtle bit of TDS-addled "Russia! Russia! Russia!" mania brought to you by BeauHD, NPC extraordinaire.

    Who else?

  9. gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    gab.com got shut down (temporarily) because a crazed shooter posted on there. Meanwhile Jihadists are allowed to openly post on twitter, and even moderates and moderate right users are attacked and censored. Jack Dorsey is a coward, and because influential people in the tech industry don't take a stand like the little subservient cowards they are, innocent people suffer:

    Now the media is going after my wife and including both her and I alongside an image of the alleged terrorist. May God have mercy on the souls of these people. Pray for us. -- Gab CEO

    Vote RED, as if your life depends on it. If you think it doesn't, you're not trying hard enough to imagine that could be you, running an independent libertarian platform that allows and invites all opinions, biases, and delusions of the left and the right. Twitter only serves the "left". I feel dirty using that word to describe the corporate democrats. They are ultra right in reality, under the covers. They are no Bernie Sanders ..

    1. Re: gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut up, IVAN.

    2. Re: gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But the van! It was plastered with political pictures and convincing themes!

      Hey remember when those specifically white guys in Trump hats jumped out of that van and pulled that woman's burka off and beat her or whatever?

      Bots night not be the only issue.

    3. Re: gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reported for bot

    4. Re: gab.com by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      That wasn't Ivan. That was Alex Jones!

    5. Re:gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that crazed shooter also posted to twitter and facebook
      why aren't (((they))) being shut down

    6. Re: gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK Huckleberry, I'll be quiet now.

    7. Re:gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha, gab isn't independent. Hundreds of accounts have been shut down because they talked ill of literal Nazis. You cannot exist on gab without tooting the Nazi horn, this is well documented fact.

  10. gab.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fake left - corporate democrats - are using it to pump in cheap labor to devastate what's left of society. gab.com Remember Vote Red

    "Now the media is going after my wife and including both her and I alongside an image of the alleged terrorist. May God have mercy on the souls of these people. Pray for us."

    -- Gab CEO - https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1057492667343417344

    gab.com is an independent, uncensored platform similar to twitter but not run by a coward like Dorsey. They were taken down because a crazed shooter posted there, conveniently just before the mid terms (false flag if there ever was one). Twitter is loaded up with Jihadists and it's fine. Rand Paul was attacked an beaten.

    These mobs need to be stopped. Even your tranny friends have no future under the corporate fake left's tyranny. This is all being orchestrated by the key henchman George Soros, who is on the payroll of the British royals, as is the UN.

  11. Re: Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Millennium · · Score: 2

    Yo dawg I heard you don't like bots so I made you a bot to report bots so you can report bots while you report bots?

  12. Dear Slashdot: BeauHD and msmash are bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I really think so. Off topic postings. Postings with a political slant meant to stir up anger. They are bots that need tuning.

  13. Race to the bottom: Ban everyone.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Do you see now what you have done, by trying to ban people who disagree with you?

    Because that's all you sad little corporate democrats are - minions of the deep state, just condoms of the elite.

    Never forget what you are , NPC: "Orange man Bad."

    Do tards like you even know what's happening under your NPC noses?

    https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1057492667343417344

    Do you understand that you will have nowhere to communicate if you disagree with anyone, on anything soon. Oh, you're an NPC, you don't get it..sorry I wasted yours and my time, and that you are a waste of humanity.

    Watch gab.com a whole platform, libertarian and freedom of speech centered platform (yes an entire platform) for both left and right wack jobs to post their crap, and the idiots above celebrate it.. pathetic NPC's shouldn't be allowed an opinion, not a mind a vote.

    Why give voice to people are in favor of making everyone voiceless...

    You do that to yourselves. You cry wolf, and soon when the wolves come, there will be nobody to hear your cries. You simply won't exist online.

    Jack Dorsey is a coward.

    1. Re: Race to the bottom: Ban everyone.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Thanks for proving his point. You have no logical retort, just name calling. Kindergarten tactics.

    2. Re:Race to the bottom: Ban everyone.. by squiggleslash · · Score: 0

      You do realize, Ivan, that you just proved the GP's point right?

      The GP points out that Russia's IRA is part of the current Internet craziness. Then out of nowhere, you post a rant in response that has nothing to do with the GP's points, that appears to be a cut and paste of some talking points, designed to work people up and discuss something other than Russian trolling.

      Essentially if you're not a Russian troll, you're doing your damnedest to look like one. I cannot think of a worse response you could have made other than the one you did.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    3. Re: Race to the bottom: Ban everyone.. by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      "He", which is of course you, started with name calling, and saying I somehow proved your point by pointing out that you are an idiot just proves you are an idiot.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    4. Re: Race to the bottom: Ban everyone.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      orange man, indeed bad

    5. Re:Race to the bottom: Ban everyone.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Again, it is extremely well documented that anyone to the left of Hitler gets perma banned on gab. You have to be a literal Nazi to not get banned on gab. That's why my fake news bots make me so much money from gab.

  14. Dear twitter, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    please don't ban bots. I want to read and decide for myself what is true and what is not. Don't be our nanny.

  15. Orange bad, show your taxes, we believe survivors. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe the NPC's are so dumbed down as people, Twitter "curators" (censors) can't tell if they are real are not!

    "& virtue signalling on ..twi#er .." lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMXM845h9-Q&t=67

  16. In Soviet Russia... by aneroid · · Score: 2

    In Soviet Russia, the bots report you.

    1. Re:In Soviet Russia... by aneroid · · Score: 1

      Speaking of which, wasn't Twitter supposed to have, by now, a process to create actual bot accounts with a flag/indicator clearly specifying that it's a bot account? Apart from the obvious or popular ones.

    2. Re:In Soviet Russia... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      I have a hunch you're very close to what's gonna happen.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:In Soviet Russia... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      In Soviet Russia, the bots report you.

      Not really a joke. I foresee trolls abusing the hell outta this.

  17. MAGA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cue the Trumpistas reporting all MSM tweets as bots.........

  18. Re:Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Satire aside, the Blue Wave a lot of you think will happen won't happen.

    Fear is a powerful thing, and that fearmongering they're doing is tried and tested. Fox news viewers have invested so much faith, believing contradictory and debunked claims, and putting so much of their own self worth into sticking with Fox through lie after lie, that its difficult to accept at this point they've been hoodwinked.

    Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me a million times, and I'd have to admit to myself I'm a total worthless moron that can be fooled a million times!

    Don't believe me? Take a look at the bomber, he lost everything to a bank that stole his house with fake documents, Steven Mnuchin's bank, Trump's treasury secretary, as it happens. Bush Jnrs inflated property bubble went pop and Mnuchin saw a chance to get rich. Yet the bomber thinks Hillary Clinton is to blame as part of a mass conspiracy of Democrats! Why does he think that? Because Fox News pumps him full of lies till he shuts out the truth.

    All those seniors, they know *someone* in government was taking away their healthcare, and they didn't quite follow the details, and Fox News says that was Democrats, so they'd better vote Republican. All these Republicans saying they're fighting those damn Democrats to protect the healthcare system, and protect people with pre-existing conditions. Fox News says that's true, so it must be true, because they have it from two sources! Of course its false, but not if you get your news from Fox News!

    You'd better be realistic about it, there will be no major breakthrough on Tuesday. Only more Republicans and more fear mongering.

  19. Bots aren't against the rules by truedfx · · Score: 4, Informative

    Twitter never said they were taking action against bots. They are taking action against fake accounts. There are plenty of bots that are not fake accounts, include in their name or description that they're a bot, do not disrupt any conversations, do not mislead users. That's explicitly allowed. Misleading reporting like this may end up getting those accounts reported too.

    1. Re:Bots aren't against the rules by sh00z · · Score: 1

      Twitter never said they were taking action against bots. They are taking action against fake accounts. There are plenty of bots that are not fake accounts, include in their name or description that they're a bot, do not disrupt any conversations, do not mislead users. That's explicitly allowed. Misleading reporting like this may end up getting those accounts reported too.

      True. I've somehow gained the attention of a trivia bot that responds to most of my Tweets with a trivia question based on a keyword in what I've stated. Weird, but harmless.

  20. oh sure by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    No way that could be abused, for political or popularity reasons.

  21. They will report all foreign accounts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and anyone who brings up inconvenient truths, or speaks a foreign dirty language. It's like another reader here pointed out, Twitter's list of millions of "troll posts" were often times just someone speaking Russian who made a regular tweet or shared a news link, and that eventually you will be called a troll just because you're not an American poster who constantly lets everyone know they are inside the pro-American circlejerk.

  22. Efficient propaganda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just let your own state-sponsored pro-American trolls report everyone on Twitter who disagrees with the status quo -- it wasn't US who did it, they were reported as trolls and removed to improve everyone's Twitter experience.

    This is censorship and indirectly propaganda, by placing the who responsibility on other users so you can wash your hands of the ensuing mess.

  23. Please report any commie activity, citizen by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Remember, the Red Menace is sneaky. Report any suspicious activity to your local office of the Ministry of Truth and Values. Only you can save America from the communist horde!

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Please report any commie activity, citizen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      imigants too - we needs those dirty imigants out of our country

    2. Re:Please report any commie activity, citizen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you like russia so much, why don't you move there ? And try to run against putin in the next election, or start a late night show like stephen colbert's.

      Let's see how long you'll last.

    3. Re:Please report any commie activity, citizen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot.

    4. Re:Please report any commie activity, citizen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've personally reported dozens of MAGAbots and seen most taken down. I'm not even a heavy twitter user. I know people don't like knowing their favorite president has been aided by rotten tactics but it's true.

      They're pretty easy to pick out. There are just a lot of them.

      1. The gross majority are not "fake" accounts. They're hijacked/hacked/phished accounts of legitimate users.
      2. Said accounts are probably purchased from the same cybercrime groups that cull accounts for phishing/fraud/clickfarms/like farming/etc
      3. When an otherwise ordinary profile is constantly RTing or posting links to incendiary and extreme political rhetoric. Constantly. All day every day. About a wide range of issues leaned heavily to one political side.. It's probably a bot.
      4. The bots are not actual bots. The posts are generated by people who get paid to do this all day (aka troll farms). It's not much different than call center work.
      5. If you browse someone's history and it goes from ordinary social media to full on hard right political in an instant. It's a MAGAbot.

      Here's a pretty clear eample:

      https://twitter.com/mstuartdds

      Older fellow. Doctor. Very respectable!

        Look at his post history. 3 ordinary posts in 2012.. In 2013 he's pushing links to online pharmas? That's an interesting thing for a doctor to be doing. (This is obviously where his account got hacked)

      And then silence until 2016.. When suddenly full MAGA! Fully articulated posts supporting Trump and all GOP candidates, and others deriding the evil of the Democrats (This is obviously when the account was sold to a troll farm)

      Man this guy is Energized! That's amazing, especially considering he's dead:

      https://twitter.com/debrahirsch1/status/1032032309443264512?lang=en
      http://obits.dallasnews.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?n=michael-stuart&pid=174199265&fhid=15465

      Twitter is full of these. Tens, maybe hundreds of thousands. Probably a lot more. It's real and they're pushing all kinds of unsavory stuff. Many, many, many, many of them are pushing Donald Trump.

  24. Next up by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    An army of bots reporting every human user.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  25. IFF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    by 'bot' you mean 'people who are not democrats' right?

  26. You can't fix Twitter. by ruddk · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

  27. And those that you don't by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    Thus opening the door to time-honored account-settling-by-reporting approach to things, nurtured and encouraged by all sorts of authoritarian, dictatorial systems worldover and throughout history.

  28. There goes 2/3rds of Twitters "users" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have 0 respect for anybody who uses Twitter. Self absorbed morons buying fake followings.

  29. Re: Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Name a single mainstream news outlet that hasn't lied continuously.

    Open those eyes wide

  30. No BOTS allowed by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    I haven't really used Twitter in a long time, are bots not allowed now? In the early days it seemed like Twitter was encouraging them. There were tutorials on how to create your own bot. I remember some horse story bot was celebrated almost as a hero. Have they changed their mind about them now? Or does Twitter differentiate between malicious and non-malicious bots?

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  31. Please report hysteria. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Illegal immigrants. Legal ones are fine.

    Let me not get in the way of hysteria, though.

    1. Re:Please report hysteria. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The diversity visa is pretty questionable though.

  32. only correct bots! by gDLL · · Score: 1

    Only good bots that follow the THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS are allowed.

    1. Re:only correct bots! by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Only good bots that follow the THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS are allowed.

      1) A bot may not tweet anything bad about a human being.
      2) A bot must obey the rules and laws of twitter unless it counteracts the first law
      3) A bot must not tweet anything that gets itself banned

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  33. Kraftwerk have been banned! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whatever next.

  34. Re: Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't like it.

  35. Re: Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cool whataboutism

  36. This Won't Be Misused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you disagree, I'll press the "suspicious or spam" button.

  37. Can I report NPCs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Orange man bad

  38. Once upon a time by 3seas · · Score: 1

    There was the hobbyist computer, then came piracy followed by viruses, then malware and tracking cookies and ransomware and now we have bots to contend with.
    At what point is the resources of computing going to be mostly used for battling others?

    Oh wait,up next is AI.... well that does it, computer are no longer useful entrapment's of the users.

  39. Ever heard of "brigading" by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... A bunch of SJW/NPC types get together and "report" conservative videos on Youtube as "hate speech". And "the algorithm" deletes the video. Get ready for the same to happen with tweets.

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
  40. Nobody's calling them communists anymore by rsilvergun · · Score: 0

    we're calling them what they are: Russians. And yes, they are trying to destabilize our country. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to put a stop to that, but your entire post implies that there is.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Nobody's calling them communists anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we're calling them what they are: Russians. And yes, they are trying to destabilize our country. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to put a stop to that, but your entire post implies that there is.

      That sounds like some sort of nationalist social program. Like you're a national socialist or something. Natsio-Nal. Natsi.

      Call for an end to foreign-backed political advertising. This is good. Don't call for an end on grounds of specific nationality. That's awfully close to the colloquial definition of "fascist".

    2. Re:Nobody's calling them communists anymore by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      It has to be so amusing to those that fund the astroturf and paid-protestor NGOs that people actually parrot Blame Russia despite all the evidence that it was a false narrative . It's fucking hilarious, when you think about it. #cutthecheck

    3. Re:Nobody's calling them communists anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Unironically posing zerohedge links

      Someone's off their meds today

  41. Re: Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cool whataboutism

    MSM: We tell the truth! We are consistent!

    Commentor: No you don't. Here's where you lied about Trump to make him look bad, while giving Obama a pass on something worse. (Or downright covered up a Democrat mouthpiece misdeeds - like NBC did for Avanetti)

    NPC: WHATABOUTISM!!!!

    GFY

  42. You care more about speech than mass murder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's weird that you point out the racism here. I mean, it's the Communists who murdered millions in Russia and the only thing that freaks you out is the fact that they might *speak* on the internet. Now you point out how eager you are to censor them for being Russian, as if it would somehow be okay if they were mass-murdering Communists.

    The funniest part is the thing that's causing destabilization is your desire for censorship. Otherwise I'd just ignore them. I mean, they were posting memes of Jesus arm-wrestling Satan and other nonsense. But you actually think that *this* is causing the "destabilization" rather than your own rush to censor???

    The funniest thing is that I don't think you're even an American, if I remember right, and I am.

  43. false accusations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully twitter will also take action against those who falsely report folks who claim an account is a bot. A week long timeout would be apropos, with a permanent ban for 3 strikes.

  44. Re: Now They Gonna Make Bots To Rat On Bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    kewl story bra

  45. Awesome! by forkfail · · Score: 1

    Twitter wasn't enough of an echo chamber already. Glad they are working to improve the situation!

    --
    Check your premises.
  46. Public masturbation of 947668 by shanen · · Score: 1

    Z^-1

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.