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We would not be remotely surprised to learn that whoever made this botnet got the profile pics via a Google search for "BEST FREE ICONS" or something.

cc: @ZellaQuixote
We found a network of 184 Vietnamese-language news bots, automated via IFTTT. All were created in March 2020 or later, generally in batches, and are thus far low-volume on an individual basis.
We Google-translated the biographies of all 184 accounts from Vietnamese to English to see if they were as similar as they looked, and indeed they are. It's not unlikely that they were generated programmatically.
What does this botnet actually do? It tweets links to Vietnamese news sites as well as related YouTube and Facebook content. It kicked into automated action on April 24th, although a few of the accounts have earlier "hello world"-style tweets.
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Conspirador Norteño
@conspirator0
It's a Friday, and a coterie of bots is bombarding folks' mentions with repetitive solicitations to buy masks from some random Twitter account. With a website named "bigsales-amazon(dot)com" (NOT the real Amazon), what could possibly go wrong? #coronagrift

cc: @ZellaQuixote ImageImage
We found 17 accounts operating on identical schedules and spamming repetitive replies directing folks to purchase masks from @Shop_Mask_USA's website. Although they (seemingly) only began tweeting in May 2020, the accounts are all several years old. ImageImageImageImage
Additionally, almost all of the tweets posted by these 17 accounts were processed by the same Twitter datacenter, suggesting they were sent via the same internet connection. (Tweet IDs contain information on which datacenter processed them, details here: ) Image
Read 7 tweets
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Conspirador Norteño
@conspirator0
Without further ado, we present the 40 accounts that most frequently tag the frequently hilarious bot @arguetron. Some of the frequent fliers are themselves bots. #ThursdayThoughts

cc: @ZellaQuixote
A couple of our bots made the list. In 29th place is @SeanSpammity, due to a lively six-hour debate that took place a week ago.
Taking 2nd place on the list of accounts that've tagged @arguetron is @DrunkAlexJones. We added botbait tags to @DrunkAlexJones' replies, which had the effect of causing @arguetron to reply to clones of @DrunkAlexJones' tweets as well as the originals.
Read 3 tweets
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Conspirador Norteño
@conspirator0
Sometimes one wakes up on a Thursday morning to find that one has been helpfully followed by a posse of pornbots seeking oddly specific numbers of retweets. #ThursdayMotivation #SpamtasticSolicitations

cc: @ZellaQuixote
This pornbot network consists of at least 3209 accounts created between October 2019 and May 2020. The vast majority have April 2020 birthdays, which is also when the botnet kicked into high gear, presently producing around 3000 tweets per day.
This botnet tweets 24/7 via the Twitter Web App, with spikes in the early morning and early afternoon Pacific Time. Although tweets sent via the Twitter Web App are generally organic, the fact that NONE of the 3209 accounts has ever used any of the smartphone apps is a red flag.
Read 6 tweets

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