Conspirador Norteño Profile picture
Aug 1, 2020 6 tweets 5 min read Read on X
In a fascinating coincidence, @Exposer (permanent ID 18934770), a 2009-era account being sold for $200, has five followers that look very similar to each other, also created in 2009. Can we find the rest of the network? #SaturdayShenanigans

cc: @ZellaQuixote ImageImage
We began by filtering all accounts with 2009 creation dates to those meeting the following criteria:

• default profile pic
• name ends in 3 digits
• 0 likes
• < 10 tweets
• following 100+ accounts
• following at least 5 times as many accounts as followed by Image
Next, we downloaded tweets from the accounts in question and removed likely false positives, leaving us with 5295 accounts that we believe to be part of the network. All were created in late 2009, mostly in batches, and posted what few tweets they have via "Twitter Web Client". ImageImageImageImage
The majority of the tweets posted by the members of this dormant botnet consist of fragments of text (some, possibly all, appear to be plagiarized from books or elsewhere on the Internet), generally accompanied by dead links to various URL redirection services. Image
Weirdly (and unlike other fake follower networks we've studied) this network mostly follows smaller accounts (dozens or hundreds of followers as opposed to hundreds of thousands), and only contributes a few followers to each account followed. ImageImageImage
(previous thread explaining how we accumulated a dataset of older Twitter accounts that we eventually expanded to include all accounts with 2009 creation dates, which we used for this thread)

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More from @conspirator0

Dec 31, 2023
It's New Year's Eve, and a bunch of politics enthusiasts with GAN-generated faces are enthusiastically replying to a variety of posts with similarly-worded replies. #NewYearShenaniGANs

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of 10 replies containing variations on "politics enthusiast" from accounts that use GAN-generated faces as avatars
The politics enthusiasts are part of a spam network consisting of (at least) 575 accounts created between May and December 2023 with GAN-generated faces. Many of their handles, such as @Maairiuieinaaa and @eJooeiaAoneueer, contain long strings of vowels.
histogram of account creation dates
table of example accounts from the network
@Maairiuieinaaa @eJooeiaAoneueer All 575 of these accounts use StyleGAN-generated faces as profile images. Some of these, such as @MauMoiagaia's profile image, contain a tiny "StyleGAN 2 (Karras et al.)" watermark in the lower right corner. collage of the GAN-generated faces that the accounts in the network use as profile images
Read 11 tweets
Dec 7, 2023
It's a great day to look at a network of inauthentic accounts that post identical AI art images (with a side of good old fashioned T-shirt spam).

cc: @ZellaQuixote


3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
This network consists of 24 X accounts. 12 of these accounts were created in the latter half of 2023 and have female avatars, while the other 12 were created in 2013 or earlier and have male avatars.

table of the 24 accounts in the network
screenshots of the profiles of the 12 female-presenting accounts in the network, all created in 2023
screenshots of the profiles of the 12 male-presenting accounts in the network, all created in 2013 or earlier
The 12 accounts with female avatars and 2023 creation dates regularly post AI-generated art images, and these image posts are quickly reposted by other accounts in the network (both female and male). The AI-generated images are often duplicated across accounts.


examples of AI art images posted by the network, and screenshots of the reposts
3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
3 posts containing the same AI-generated image
Read 8 tweets
Sep 1, 2023
Meet @ImJamesMiller (permanent ID 1371651462153994242), an account with a GAN-generated face, 172K followers, and no tweets prior to two days ago. What's up with that?

cc: @ZellaQuixote screenshot of @ImJamesMiller's profile, screenshot of tweeterid.com lookup showing @ImJamesMiller's permanent ID, and closeup of @ImJamesMiller's profile image, a GAN-generated face
As it turns out, @ImJamesMiller wasn't always named @ImJamesMiller. In June, the account was named @/IamJimCaviezel in an apparent attempt to impersonate Sound of Freedom actor Jim Caviezel.

web.archive.org/web/2023062319…
screenshot of wayback machine archive
@ImJamesMiller Multiple prominent users appear to have accepted the fake Jim Caviezel account as legitimate, including Texas Congressman Brian Babin, right-wing influencer/ex-Game of Thrones blogger Jack Posobiec, and recently indicted ex-Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark. screenshots of tweets from large accounts tagging the fake Jim Caviezel account
Read 9 tweets
Aug 27, 2023
It's a great day to look at a network of Bluesky spam accounts with randomized names. #SundaySpam

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of 16 bluesky accounts with random adjective + noun names
This spam network consists of (at least) 401 accounts, all of which were created (or added to the Bluesky app view) in August 2023. These accounts do not follow each other; rather, each one follows a small number of popular Bluesky accounts. histogram of account creation dates for the 401 accounts in the network, all created in August 2023
The accounts in this network cycle rhythmically between posting three types of content:

• reposts
• posts containing links to news articles
• posts containing links to news articles accompanied by images hourly post volume by post type bar chart
Read 6 tweets
Jun 18, 2023
This #FathersDay2023 tweet from @PaulFox50854324 has gone somewhat viral, but both @PaulFox50854324's profile image and the alleged image of the neighbor's son are GAN-generated faces.

cc: @ZellaQuixote Image
More on GAN-generated faces and their use on Twitter here:

Tips on recognizing GAN-generated faces here:
Today's #FathersDay2023 tweet is not the first time @PaulFox50854324 engaged in image shenanigans.

This glass of grape Kool-Aid that @PaulFox50854324's son supposedly made in 2021 somehow traveled back in time to 2019 and became alcoholic kombucha. Image
Read 7 tweets
Jun 4, 2023
Meet @thisisorange, a Twitter account created in February 2022 with a gold "verified organization" badge, thousands of batch-created fake followers, and a couple other interesting traits.

cc: @ZellaQuixote screenshots of @thisisorang...follow order by creation da...
Verified organizations on Twitter can verify affiliated accounts (employees, teams, brand names, etc), which receive blue checkmarks as well as an organization badge (help.twitter.com/en/using-twitt…). The @thisisorange account has thousands of affiliates, mostly cryptocurrency accounts.
How did this come about? The website linked on @thisisorange's profile (orange dot associates) apparently allows one to become an affiliate simply by providing a Twitter account and a cryptocurrency wallet. screenshot of orange . asso...
Read 5 tweets

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