Thread by @conspirator0

Let's see which retweet bots are super excited about the third Democratic presidential debate. #ThursdayThoughts

#Warren2020 #AmyForAmerica #YangGang #Booker2020 #FeelTheBern #KHive #MayorPete #Biden2020 #BetoForAmerica #Castro2020

cc: @ZellaQuixote

@ZellaQuixote A duo of extremely similar real estate bots (@RealtorFairfax and @FairfaxVAAgent) were the first two automated accounts to retweet the preceding tweet. Based on a brief jaunt through their timelines, they seem more focused on retweeting political hashtags than real estate.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent The third bot retweet comes to us courtesy of @BernieBot_2020, which retweets various Sanders-related hashtags (#Bernie2020, #FeelTheBern, #NotMeUS, and #NoMiddleGround.) We've run across it before.

https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/1147945851744137218?s=20

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 A bit surprisingly (but not too surprisingly given that neither account is particularly high-volume), the inclusion of #YangGang in the first tweet utterly failed to elicit retweets from either @McYangin or @YangClt. (We found these two accounts via #YangMediaBlackout today.)

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt Update: @KrisListings (spotted earlier by @anarchic_teapot), a third "real estate" bot that retweets a medley of political hashtags, has joined @RealtorFairfax and @FairfaxVAAgent in retweeting this thread. So has @Falcon_Cab, a hypothetical cab company that does the same thing.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab . . . now @MiddleburgTaxi, a second "taxi company" that looks way more like a political retweet bot than a business, has retweeted the preceding tweet. That brings us to three real estate and two cab company accounts that act like this, all supposedly associated with Virginia.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi Joining the fun is a third taxicab bot, @LoudounCab. That brings us to three real estate accounts and three cab companies that in fact appear to be political hashtag retweet bots (#MoscowMitch is the current favorite hashtag.) We'll update this thread should more surface.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab Shaking things up a bit, this thread has now been retweeted by a grahic designer bot (@247101) and a drone photography bot (@AerialImpress.) Much like the six accounts mentioned previously in this thread, they mostly retweet political hashtags.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress Oh, we also got retweeted by three more "realtor" bots: @YesursRealty, @MiddleburgRLTY, and @ListingsView. That brings the total to 11 - 6 realtors, 3 taxi companies, 1 graphic designer and one drone photographer, all of which spend most of their time as political retweet bots.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView Three more bots that appear to be part of the set retweeted this thread overnight: @FalconCab (not to be confused with @Falcon_Cab which turned up earlier), @REAerialView, and @Yesurs. Like the others, they more political tweets than tweets related to their actual business.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs *they retweet more political tweets than tweets related to their actual business.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs Four more retweet bots that are supposedly Virginia businesses RT'd this thread (bringing the running total to 18): @XpressBriefing, @MiddleburgTours, @MiddleburgRSRT, and @ListingsByOwner. We'll note that this group doesn't exclusively retweet on behalf of any given candidate.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs @XpressBriefing @MiddleburgTours @MiddleburgRSRT @ListingsByOwner Two more bots that appear to be part of the same network (@_KrisRealty and @care2insure) have graciously made themselves known by retweeting this thread, bringing the total to 20 accounts. Interesting, some are quite old (and may have been recently repurposed as political bots.)

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs @XpressBriefing @MiddleburgTours @MiddleburgRSRT @ListingsByOwner @_KrisRealty @care2insure Not only do these 20 bots retweet the same hashtags, they retweet many of the same tweets. Although they do occasionally retweet one another's hypothetical "business" tweets, the most frequently retweeted tweets are all political.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs @XpressBriefing @MiddleburgTours @MiddleburgRSRT @ListingsByOwner @_KrisRealty @care2insure Another day, and four more bots that appear to be part of this network have found this thread: @CliftonCab, @STEMCyberClub, @AshburnTimes, and @CollabCash. Notably, @CliftonCab and @STEMCyberClub appear to have had their first apps shut down (see "erasedXXXXXXXX" in the legends.)

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs @XpressBriefing @MiddleburgTours @MiddleburgRSRT @ListingsByOwner @_KrisRealty @care2insure @CliftonCab @STEMCyberClub @AshburnTimes @CollabCash That brings the total size of the network to 24 (and more may well show up, judging by the last two days.) Hashtag lineup remains consistent.

Also, this is almost certainly the most bot-deluged thread we've ever posted - 42.8% of RTs so far are from automated accounts.

@ZellaQuixote @RealtorFairfax @FairfaxVAAgent @BernieBot_2020 @McYangin @YangClt @KrisListings @anarchic_teapot @Falcon_Cab @MiddleburgTaxi @LoudounCab @247101 @Aerialimpress @YesursRealty @MiddleburgRLTY @ListingsView @FalconCab @REAerialView @Yesurs @XpressBriefing @MiddleburgTours @MiddleburgRSRT @ListingsByOwner @_KrisRealty @care2insure @CliftonCab @STEMCyberClub @AshburnTimes @CollabCash Related thread describing a large increase in automated activity on the #MoscowMitch hashtag thanks to this botnet.

https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/1169027078303432704?s=20