Thread by @3r1nG

One thing I've noticed in nearly 4 years of tracking Twitter bots is how in every country where they are active, people not only recognize what they are but they also give them nicknames.

For example in Mexico they're called "peñabots." I don't think anyone believes Enrique Peña Nieto is running a propaganda botnet out of the basement of the Casa Blanca but this is the umbrella term that's been adopted to generally call out any kind of fakery on MX social media.

In Mexico they sometimes name them after other politicians too. Like when (former) senator Omar Fayad tried to pass a terrible internet bill in 2015, fake accounts filled his mentions with sycophantic praise of the bill. Those accounts were called "FayadBots"

Mexico: peñabots
Honduras: JOH-bots
Peru: fujitrolls
Turkey: AK-trolls or "army of 6000"
Egypt: legan electronya or لجان الكترونية
Guatemala: Net centers
Argentina: Call centers
Puerto Rico: Fotutos51

USA: Russian bots

See how USA is doing something different here? 🤨

Trolls in Egypt are called لجان الكترونية or legan electronya (franco Arabic) which means e-committee or online committee. They were used to spread rumors and defend Mubarak during the 2011 revolution. Later they also defended SCAF & MB. egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/12/social…

Here’s a gephi animation of the Twitter network with the hashtag #jan25 on February 11, 2011, during and after the announcement of Mubarak's resignation. and more data visualizations of twitter from Egypt 2011 from UCLA: idep.library.ucla.edu/node/55/case-s…