Conspirador Norteño Profile picture
Data Scientist/Musician/Participant in the General Confusion @trutherbotprop Resist autocracy and research/counter disinformation. I serve the realm.
Pensive™ & @PensiveTM@mastodon.social 💔💚 Profile picture eDo Profile picture 🇬🇧DR.Renton🐸🇺🇸⭐⭐⭐PM-Elect✝️🇧🇷🇮🇹⌛️🥓🤣🐶 Profile picture Adam Smithee Profile picture Neals Rauhauser Profile picture 37 subscribed
Dec 31, 2023 11 tweets 6 min read
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
Dec 7, 2023 8 tweets 5 min read
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
Sep 1, 2023 9 tweets 5 min read
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
Aug 27, 2023 6 tweets 3 min read
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
Jun 18, 2023 7 tweets 5 min read
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:
Jun 4, 2023 5 tweets 4 min read
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.
Jun 3, 2023 9 tweets 7 min read
If your interests include OnlyFans, pro-China propaganda, and social media accounts with artificially generated faces, then this is the botnet for you. (There's also cryptocurrency spam involved because of course there is.) #FridayShenaniGANs

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of "onlyfans l...collage of Chinese tweets a... This network consists of (at least) 1627 Twitter accounts created between April 30th and May 20th, 2023. All of them follow at least two of the following accounts: @AoTJewels, @BlackYellow, @Fenerbahce, and @elonmusk ,and tweet via Twitter for Android or the Twitter Web App. table of 30 example account...histogram of account creati...hourly tweet volume by sour...
May 13, 2023 6 tweets 4 min read
It's a Saturday in May, and a reply spam network is busy spamming people's replies with extremely similar tweets encouraging them to log into an obscure website with supplied login credentials. (The login info is the same in every reply.)

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of 18 replies conta... The website promoted by the spam accounts (uu55111 dot com) describes itself as a "financial income platform" and claims to offer various crypto-related financial services. Needless to say, obscure financial websites promoted by spam networks should be approached with distrust. screenshot of uu55111 dot com
May 8, 2023 6 tweets 6 min read
It's a great day to look at a network of mutually interacting Twitter accounts that use TweetDeck to amplify one another's content, most (but not all) of which is Florida-related. #FloridaSpam

cc: @ZellaQuixote screenshots of the retweets... This network consists of seven accounts with similar tweet schedules and a focus on Florida that tweet the vast majority of their tweets via TweetDeck: @4_sarasota, @CalendarMad, @CapitalTales, @FreshStarSrq, @PublicGood2050, @TwartVader, and @lakesarasota. table of the seven accounts...tweet schedule plots for ea...weekly tweet volume by sour...
Apr 16, 2023 6 tweets 5 min read
Popular chatbot ChatGPT will sometimes return error messages when asked to produce offensive content. If you're a spam network operator who uses ChatGPT to generate spam and you're not paying attention, these messages will show up in the spam you generate.

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of 12 tweets with t... This spam network consists of (at least) 59645 Twitter accounts, mostly created between 2010 and 2016. All of their recent tweets were sent via the Twitter Web App. Some accounts have old unrelated tweets followed by a multi-year gap, which suggests they were hijacked/purchased. histogram of account creati...table of 30 example account...hourly tweet volume by sour...monthly tweet volume by sou...
Apr 14, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
If you're someone with integrity at @thedailybeast, this is a good time to give the public a look at what's going on behind the scenes and why an article containing demonstrable falsehoods and harassment from a known cyberstalker is still on your website. Given the amount of time that has passed, the degree of pushback, and the repeated debunking of the article's primary source and elements, there is no scenario in which this is innocent. Someone at The Daily Beast is 100% aware the article is false and is keeping it up anyway.
Apr 12, 2023 22 tweets 14 min read
For the record, I have NEVER participated in any "online harassment campaigns" directed at opponents of Ron Desantis or anyone else.

I look forward to an immediate retraction from @thedailybeast of this false and defamatory reporting. Image The author of this article, @JakeLahut, did not reach out to me before publishing false claims that I participate in "online harassment campaigns". If he had, I would have told him the claims were lies that originated with a pair of pathological liars.
Apr 5, 2023 5 tweets 4 min read
On April 3rd, 2023, the logo on the web version of Twitter was changed from the traditional blue bird to a Shiba Inu dog (the dogecoin logo). It didn't take long for crypto spammers to embrace this change.

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of quote tweets of ... The quote tweets in the screenshot in the previous tweet are from a network of 32 accounts created on March 23rd and March 24th, 2023. All have account names ending in 5 digits. Their activity is concentrated in brief bursts where they all tweet within a few hours of each other. table of the 32 accounts in...hourly volume by source app...hourly volume by tweet type...
Apr 1, 2023 6 tweets 4 min read
These spammy Twitter accounts have all heard this trend reverses as you get old and you start to remember more of the good things and let go of the cringe, and are happy to tell you so via identically-worded tweets.

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of six identical tweets with the text "I once h These accounts are part of a network of 47 accounts created over the span of three hours on December 19th, 2022. Their names are composed of digits and lowercase letters; most contain fragments of common English first names. Thus far, they tweet mostly via the Twitter Web App. table of the 47 accounts in the networkdaily tweet volume by source app bar chart
Mar 26, 2023 8 tweets 5 min read
Here's a look at a spam network that posts image tweets with identical text containing the hashtag #Accelerationism. This network's interests include the "Need for Speed" video game franchise and widespread power grid failures.

cc: @ZellaQuixote collage of tweets with the text "#Accelerationism Do yocollage of tweets with the text "The power crisis has a This network consists of 39 accounts created between January 2022 and March 2023 that tweet exclusively via the Twitter Web App. Their content is a mix of tweets, replies, and retweets. (Most of the retweets are of popular news and sports accounts.) table of the 39 accounts in the networkdaily tweet volume by source app bar chartdaily tweet volume by tweet type bar chart
Mar 24, 2023 9 tweets 6 min read
Are you a business owner, musician, model, artist, shop owner or content creator? @PoloxioShop is happy to sell you followers, likes, and views.

Of course, its own 108K followers are all empty accounts, so you may want to save your cash.

cc: @ZellaQuixote screenshot of @PoloxioShop'...follow order by creation da... Interestingly, @PoloxioShop (ID 1596031715495104513) does not directly link to the shady follower sales site it promotes. Instead, it links to an Instagram page, which in turn links to the website in question (poloxio dot com). screenshot of PoloxioShop I...screenshot of poloxio.com, ...
Mar 20, 2023 4 tweets 3 min read
On several occasions over the last few years, popular right-wing US Twitter accounts have gained large numbers of Chinese-language followers. These followers promote websites linked to recently-arrested Steve Bannon associate Guo Wengui.

cc: @ZellaQuixote
conspirator0.substack.com/p/right-wing-u… Many of these Chinese-language accounts are still around, and are currently retweeting tweets about Guo Wengui's arrest. (Each tweet in this collage was tweeted at least two hundred of the Chinese-language accounts in question.) collage of tweets recently retweeted by at least 200 of the
Mar 18, 2023 5 tweets 3 min read
This network of spammy Twitter accounts wants to ensure there's fair competition in the metaverse (or something). #FridayAstroturf

cc: @ZellaQuixote screenshots of six tweets with the text "EU antitrust c This network consists of 36 accounts created over a span of 10 minutes on February 10th, 2023. All 36 tweet via a mix of automation service IFTTT and allegedly human-operated Twitter clients such as the Twitter Web App and Twitter for Android. table of the 36 accounts in the networkdaily tweet volume by source app bar chartschedule plots for each account in the network
Mar 15, 2023 13 tweets 10 min read
Cryptocurrency spam networks are a dime a dozen these days (a dogecoin a dozen?), but cryptocurrency spam networks that have been spamming in lockstep for several years while moving from topic to topic are less common. Here's a look at one such network.

cc: @ZellaQuixote examples of sets of spammy tweets from 2015, 2016, 2017, andexamples of sets of spammy tweets from 2020, 2021, 2022, and This network consists of 38 accounts created in late 2014 and early 2015. Almost all of their tweets since October 2022 were tweeted via the Twitter Web App, with a handful sent via something called "Mises Browser". table of the 38 accounts in the networkdaily tweet volume by source app bar chart, showing 97.2% of
Mar 9, 2023 7 tweets 5 min read
It's a great day to look at a spammy network that's been tweeting repetitive political tweets for the last year. Plot twist: many of the spammy repeated tweets are anti-Biden, but the network mostly retweets pro-Biden accounts. #ThursdayAstroturf

cc: @ZellaQuixote Screenshots of multiple copies of 2 tweets about Biden and C This spam network consists of (at least) 1167 similarly-named accounts created between January 2022 and January 2023. Thus far, all of their tweets were allegedly tweeted via the Twitter Web App. histogram of creation dates for the 1167 accounts in the nettable of 25 example accountsdaily tweet volume by source app bar chart, showing that all
Mar 5, 2023 9 tweets 7 min read
There's some weird stuff going on with the engagement on this tweet from @ilkersenock, including multiple retweets from accounts with GAN-generated faces. Let's take a look. #SundayShenaniGANs

cc: @ZellaQuixote Screenshots of a Feb 27th @ilkersenock tweet and the account The accounts with GAN-generated faces that retweeted the @ilkersenock tweet in question are part of a network of 18 accounts created on February 17th, 2023 with GAN-generated faces. All of their content thus far is retweets of @ilkersenock tweeted via the Twitter Web App. Table of the 18 accounts in the networkCollage of @ilkersenock's profile and some @ilkersenock tweeTweet volume by source app chart, showing that all the netwo