While looking at something mostly unrelated, we ran across @coinkit_, a tool that allows one to pay cryptocurrency to the first N accounts that retweet/quote tweet one's tweets. We can't help but notice that this appears to be a TOS violation.
cc: @ZellaQuixote
cc: @ZellaQuixote
The get-paid-cryptocurrency-to-retweet feature of CoinKit is triggered by adding to one's tweets the phrase "@coinkit_ mon" followed by information about how much one intends to pay for the astroturfing assistance. Are folks using multiple accounts to game the payouts?
Answer: yes. We downloaded recent tweets containing "@coinkit_ mon" and found a number of spikes in account creation dates indicating batch creation of accounts. We looked at the largest six spikes, which correspond to five distinct bot/sock networks.
The first network consists of 23 accounts with cartoon avatars created on November 25th and 26th, 2020. These accounts (allegedly) tweet via the Twitter for Android, and mostly amplify cryptocurrency accounts.
The second botnet is comprised of 15 accounts created on Sept 6, 2020, all with lowercase names containing the letter "a" multiple times. Like the first network, they mostly amplify cryptocurrency tweets. This network tweets via the Twitter Web App.
The third network contains 25 accounts created on June 20th and 25th, 2020, all with default profile pics. This might be the first time we've seen a "merry christmas" tweet astroturfed, which doesn't strike us as in keeping with the spirit of the season.
The fourth botnet is the largest of the bunch, consisting of 146 accounts created in March and June 2020. All of them have tweeted via the Twitter Web App, and some have also tweeted via Android (although it's possible both types of tweets are automated).
The fifth astroturf network we found amplifying get-paid-cryptocurrency-for-retweets tweets consists of 104 accounts created in Sept 2019. These accounts tweet via Twitter Web App, and many use album covers as profile pics. Like the rest, they mostly boost cryptocurrency tweets.
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