Twitter just purged Russian bots, and Trump fans are crying as their followers vanish

[Julian Englis]

Source: Metro

Today, our thoughts and prayers are with the #MAGA brigade, as they howl in despair after half their Twitter followers vanished overnight.

The reason? Those ‘cruel leftist libs’ at Twitter just purged a load of Russian bots – leading (hilariously) to right-wing Tweeters losing their sh*t.

They think it’s some kind of left-wing conspiracy, whereas in fact, Twitter just deleted a bunch of non-existent fascists controlled from St Petersburg.

Not seeming to realise the irony, many are sharing their agony online with the hashtag #TwitterLockout.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/21/twitter-just-purged-russian-bots-trump-fans-crying-followers-vanish-7329362/

---

The outrage on Twitter is beyond hilarious. Oddly, only right nut jobs are complaining of lost followers.
Check it out at https://twitter.com/hashtag/TwitterLockOut?src=tren

[FarPoint]

1. Curious....

How is DU addressing the Russian Trolls?...I only drop in now and then each day so I lack insight as to our troll infestation....It appears we have few.

[IronLionZion]

3. Look out for people deliberately sowing division

trying to get us to turn against each other and our party. Some are legit lefties but the more extreme and persistent ones are probably trolls.

[vi5]

8. Well based off of the number of times that gets thrown about as an insult on here...

...there are a lot of people who have been playing a really long game, starting in 2000, and racking up tens of thousands of posts during that time, all to infiltrate DU and sow division.

It really is impressive.

[Whiskeytide]

14. The baseless flinging of the accusation sometimes says...

... more about the accuser. Something about pointing a finger points four back at you ...

[The Mouth]

62. No kidding

I regard the accusation much as when someone resorts to profanity or raises their voice, it means they have lost the argument on the basis of facts and logic, much like the dingbats on the right using "Treason" ( *VERY* specific legal term, defined explicitly in the Constitution, misuse marking one immediately as an ignoramus of no importance), unless they have incontrovertible subsequent proof- they've lost.

[FarPoint]

30. I've noticed the long game...

Quite a shocker for me....I survived the Primaries here...it was a miserable time....

Looks like we are doing better...but, then surprises happen.

[vi5]

34. I just love it when posters who have been here for 1-2 years

...call me a Putin lover or accuse me of wanting a pony because I dare offer up even the most mild of criticism of anything any Democrat does.

[onlyadream]

63. I've been on DU since GW Bush's second election (so glad I found DU then);

but at some point my computer died and I ended up making a new profile (so it appears I'm a younger DUer than I am). Anyhow, when the ACA went into affect, I was one of those people who lost my policy since it was catastrophe only. My premium went from $400/month to $1700. People here were saying how this was a lie and I was accused of being a troll, JUST for telling my story. I was very disappointed that some here couldn't be objective, and used my low post count to discredit me.

[vi5]

67. I would say for me it's not just low post count.....

...It's low post count, while being accusatory and calling other people out who've been here much longer and been much more involved. Especially since a lot of those same folks like to lecture others about what will and won't work politically or what the party should and shouldn't do, meanwhile those of us who have been here longer and on a more regular basis have already seen those movies play out with less than happy endings. Very little of what is being argued about on DU is new. It may just be more extreme, but it's the result of a creeping incrementalism that has been debated on here since 2000.

And even just disagreeing is fine, but when there's a condescending tone to it, from someone who hasn't been here long that's when I personally take issue with it. But....everyone has their own standards and tipping points I guess.

[PatSeg]

44. It is funny how some

provocative posters are all over DU during primaries and then magically disappear for four years. Years ago, I took them at face value and allowed them to upset me. The last Democratic primary, I learned to tune them out and avoided the bait.

[FarPoint]

49. Yes....

That should be a radar clue for our Administrator

[PatSeg]

53. In 2004

I noticed some hypersensitive Kucinich supporters, who pounced on anyone who criticized their candidate. I thought they were obnoxious purists, but then they were "poof" gone.

During the last primary, I pretty much avoided DU, except to periodically check "Latest Breaking News" on the home page. Life is too short for all the crap.

[onlyadream]

65. Do you remember Operationmindcrime?

He certainly played the long game.

[PatSeg]

69. No, though it sounds familiar

There are so many names that I can't remember anymore, but I do remember the attacks and ridicule. I know people who quit coming here because of it.

[onlyadream]

83. I remember him probably because his young wife passed from cancer

He posted a video and it was heart breaking. Eventually he came out as like a double agent, which made sense because many of his posts were combative and had me scratching my head.

[PatSeg]

86. Oh wow

I don't remember that.

[Matt_R]

96. Some people read and agree in silence...

However this is a discussion forum, and as such primaries are a great time to add two cents.

[LanternWaste]

76. What is the distribution of it being merely an accusation and it being accurate?

What is the distribution of it being merely an accusation and it being accurate? As it seems quite relevant, you'll provide the numbers, yes?

That too, would really be impressive...

[vi5]

79. As far as I'm concerned,

If it's directed at someone who has been here prior to 2014 and who has thousands of posts it's probably not very accurate.

[karynnj]

36. Many were identified in 2014 and 2015 and thrown out

Those of us reading threads on Syria or Ukraine saw many of them. While there were many on the left against US foreign policy especially in Syria, there were other posters - who I had never seen on other issues - posing (poorly) as Americans, who were called out as trolls. BOTH of these groups posted MANY rt or sputnik links. (It might be interesting for the mods to go back through those threads to see how many of those people were eventually kicked out.)

During the primaries, I think there were likely MORE trolls than Sanders supporters believed -- and fewer than many Clinton supporters thought. I think DU did a pretty good job in both communicating that RT and Sputnik and associated sources were NOT acceptable as sources. In addition to any outright removal of trolls, it made us a less hospitable environment for promoting chaos.

In the general election, our GE rules pretty much made DU useless for trolls. First, we were a partisan committed groups of posters and readers. We were NOT a fertile environment for either discouraging people voting or swinging anyone to Trump.

One thing that might have made DU less vulnerable is that the nature of the site is that the strongest posters speak of who they are - even as they stay anonymous. It is not easy to have a completely fake persona that is culturally far from who you are. Many people have posted of meeting their DU friends in real life -- and I have never seen anyone post that they were completely different than they expected. I met a large number of the DU JK group back as long ago as 2005. I would say that while in person, they obviously were more complicated and interesting, but it also seemed like meeting a lot of long term friends.

There is something in the culture of the site that seems to require people who are real influences on other posters to share enough of themselves. Obviously, just as there are people who fool many in real life - whether famous (John Edwards) or not, there will be examples of trolls or simply unscrupulous people, who succeed for a while until they are unearthed.

[pangaia]

41. I must be really dimwitted because I can not tell who is a troll.

I really can't.

But, I guess that's ok as long as enough others, like you, can.

[karynnj]

46. Please -- I did not say that I could identify ALL trolls -- just that I saw many identified by many

Last edited Wed Feb 21, 2018, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)

people here when they were attacking the Obama administration on Ukraine and Syria. Even in real life, there are people who can live a lie.

However, as I wrote, the fact that certain SOURCES were clearly RW or Russian (or both) -- meant that it was easy to alert on posts using them AND to comment that they were not good sources. Doesn't mean that these posts ended, but it does mean that they did not gain increased credibility. Anyone here a significant amount of time KNEW who was behind those links.

[pangaia]

47. Oh, oh Karyn, I am not criticizing you at all,, but rather praising you, and others,

who can so often see the difference.

I just meant that I can almost never tell...

But I CAN tell the difference between Mozart and Haydn.......usually.. whew!

[PatSeg]

48. It is not easy to spot many of them,

as they can be well trained professionals. Their objective can be to sow discord, but not enough to get kicked off DU. I'm sure I have also encountered many without realizing it.

Of course, there are all kinds of trolls. There are political trolls, corporate trolls, and just plain old-fashioned obnoxious trolls, who want to cause disruption for kicks.

[pangaia]

52. jeeze... maybe I am a troll.. and don't know it..

Like the Manchurian Candidate..

What a horrible thought....

[PatSeg]

54. Oh, good grief!!!

Maybe I am as well!!! It never dawned on me..............

[pangaia]

55. I knew it I knew it..

Your posts just have that... I don't know.. that slant..

And then that hat is the dead giveaway...

[PatSeg]

56. Ah yes

Willie Nelson = Trying too hard to look American

I thought I was born in Chicago, but now I wonder if my whole life has been a lie and my memories are all implants.

[efhmc]

70. Thanks for the giggle.

BTW, I gained followers last night.

[Bradical79]

81. I reported a couple to admin back then...

they were linking to RT a lot, including articles sourced to a holocaust denying white supremecist. It was obvious in a number of cases. Post primary rule changes probably eliminated some more as the sort of things a lot were pushing at the tume became a ToS violation.

[hurple]

37. Easiest way to find a troll

Is to look under a bridge.

[hotrod0808]

40. You have a great point

Been a lurker since DU came online, member since 2009, and every Election Night I am riveted to DU. That massive crash in 2016 crushed me, and I hoped that it wasn't Russia crashing this place just to cut us off from the information stream.

[lagomorph777]

61. I have seen a fair number of (apparent) Russian trolls here.

Very low post count, oddly stilted English, taking RW positions and using RW idioms. Sometimes they claim to be "playing Devil's advocate."

If they persist that way for a few posts, I flag 'em.

[Locrian]

2. funniest part

is people offering "thoughts and prayers" to the purged

[RKP5637]

6. Putin is fully aware of how stupid and easily controlled these people are. It's an embarrassment

to the US. I wonder how many followed Trump, will he issue one of his idiotic tweets ...

[Locrian]

12. yes

putin is evil but not stupid

The US is a very soft target for these guys
They're being played like a fiddle

Its what the effects of talk radio, fox, hate, consumer culture, money, and general disgust for "human-ness" has gotten us.

[forgotmylogin]

24. Yes!

They're complaining they're being repressed and censored...the platform deleted fake accounts! They're not real! So yeah. T&P for all the fallen Russian fake accounts!

[WhiteTara]

29. ...

That was wonderful!

[safeinOhio]

4. So, will they blame

Obama or Hillary?

[Squinch]

5. It's about damn time, now that the horse has not only gotten out of the barn but has

run halfway across the country. Twitter better make this a weekly effort.

I get the humor, and it really IS funny - thoughts and prayers from me, too - but this pisses me off. Why has it taken till now? And when will the next purge of trolls and bots be?

If it's not a regular thing, then Twitter has a lot to answer for. Like the downfall of our democracy.

[BigmanPigman]

42. That is my question too. Why did it take so damn long?

Of course we knew Twitter and Facebook primarily were helping the Russians knowingly or not during the election and since but what caused them to do it now? And what about Facebook. Same thing isn't it? Why haven't they done what Twitter just did? I am sure there is some tech excuse or a financial excuse.

Russia saw us as an easy mark. After over 20 years of Fux Ruse we have generations already believing the right wing BS first and the facts last.

[Alpeduez21]

7. Just send them 'bots' and prayers.

[NBachers]

9. They've been raptured!

[FailureToCommunicate]

20. +1

[leftofcool]

10. Maybe they could go to Jareds

I am sure Kushner knows of a Russian server from where they could post.

[FailureToCommunicate]

21. +1

...for cleverness AND proper grammar !

[annabanana]

22. perfect.. . . . n/t

[Backwoodsrider]

11. I accused a DU poster of being a Russian last week and got booted

Let them show division we have the purge

[Xipe Totec]

13. The Brain Slug Party just lost half its membership nt

[riversedge]

15. Purged bots from #TwitterLockout massacre are organizing a protest march inside a Flash drive.....

andy lassner?Verified account @andylassner

Breaking:
Purged bots from the #TwitterLockout massacre are organizing a protest march inside a flash drive.

Link to tweet

[PatSeg]

50. Oh my god!

That is hysterical.

[riversedge]

16. Richard 🐉 Spencer‏ __ I've lost close to 1,000 followers offer the past few hours. Major purge

Richard 🐉 Spencer? @RichardBSpencer

I've lost close to 1,000 followers offer the past few hours.

Major purge underway.
12:03 AM - 21 Feb 2018

130 Retweets
491 Likes
John W. Hampson 🇺🇸
Donnie Darko 🇺🇸🇪🇸🇩🇪
elf
Michigan Shore
(((Toni)))
Мартин
MagicDomino
🌟 DarkstoneVeda[LTC]🐔🔥 🐓
Katrina💯Barber

154 replies 130 retweets 491 likes


🐘Deeps
🐘
? @dlreddy14051
2h2 hours ago
Replying to @RichardBSpencer

Thoughts and prayers!
1 reply 1 retweet 36 likes

1 more reply

New conversation
Kevin MacDonald
? @TOOEdit
8h8 hours ago

Replying to @RichardBSpencer

I've lost 400

[annabanana]

23. Awww. Nazi misses his Russians. . . n/t

[riversedge]

28. #BotRapture #BotPurge

Hashtags for the raptured

[TwistOneUp]

85. Now all we gotta do...

Is lose Richard Spencer.

[salin]

17. Dear angry snowflake. If you lost 100+ followers in the purge,

then you were duped. You probably don't/can't speak the native language of the origin of those accounts. You have experienced how deceptive the campaign to influence opinions in the US can be. But, you ask, how can those have been russian bots - they talked about things being talked about on Fox/Rush/Brietbart??? Think about that. Really.

When engaged in "our side is always right" dramas - and pushed to go more extreme to come up with explanations to prove it in the face of facts that fly in the face of it - it is easy to exploit with messages more extreme - and hyping the ridiculous side comments of someone like Rush who peddles in snarky ridiculous side comments - and suddenly those comments become a THING. Like - framing a community of high school students who have just gone through a harrowing massacre, and lost 17 friends/teachers/peers - as devious, paid (even meth using/peddling) "crisis actors"... Geez. You do know that is grotesque and cruel twisting of reality? Right? How would it go from fringe (Sandy Hook) to mainstream conservative media? Maybe an army of bots - that folks think of as 'their followers' ceaselessly pushing the extreme - in a way that discredits to the broader country and world the conservative movement - because - well Grotesque and Cruel.

Just a thought.

Ya I know, if you lost 100+ followers in the purge - you stopped reading this message after the first sentence. Because - cognitive dissonance (if you need to, google it.) Sad.

[Fred Sanders]

43. Twitter is at least admitting its role and doing a purge. What about Facebook? And will they donate

the hundreds of thousands of illegal ad dollars they got from Russian election meddling operatives....maybe to the Fundraiser by Cameron Kasky that Clooney donated to?

Great publicity!

https://www.gofundme.com/8psm8-march-for-our-lives

[SergeStorms]

84. They say it's an attack.....

on "their freedom of speech". You can't fix stupid, you really can't.

[muntrv]

18. Move to Russia if you want to be with your supporters.

[yuiyoshida]

19. All of our thoughts and Prayers to the Right wing

Conservatives who lost their poor, poor Russian Bot friends.

[Shrike47]

91. Wouldnt you feel bad if all your followers disappeared? Your only friends?

[yuiyoshida]

95. The difference is ...

all their friends are haters, just like them, so no..

[vercetti2021]

25. Thoughts and prayers for the many snowflakes on Twitter today

And a merry go fuck yourselves

[onecaliberal]

80. I love that.

[rpannier]

26. This is terrible

How will I get updates on the Bowling Green Massacre?

[Generic Brad]

27. How many followers has Trump lost?

All of them?

[skypilot]

31. Am I missing something?

There are a number of tweets telling people to "follow each other" in order to get their "followers" numbers back up, but it seems to me that if there had really been a big purge of legitimate tweeters then following this suggestion wouldn't make that much of a difference because the people you are telling to follow you are GONE. The REAL Twitter deplorables were/are probably following each other already, right?

I don't use Twitter or Facebook so maybe I'm not understanding how this all works.

[rpannier]

88. In addition, the people you're telling to follow you

probably are already following you

[Wounded Bear]

90. And if they're not following you, they won't see the request...

Every body who is not here, please raise your hand.

[rpannier]

93. Yep

That's about it

[llmart]

32. Still wondering who hacked DU...

on election night.

[NRaleighLiberal]

38. indeed. wish we knew the answer to that.

[Nitram]

33. LOL! They lost all their fake followers!

Ironic that they don't realize they are confessing that they are "unwitting" stooges of Russian efforts to destabilize our nation.

[mchill]

35. Facebook is doing nothing!! (Maybe)

Before the election, in my own alter-ego profile, and after purging any of my political posts, I joined several Trump groups (that required acceptance) to try and understand their mind (news: nothing to understand except for bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia). I was eventually blocked by one group that had real people in it, but I'm still a member of "TRUMP SUPPORTERS UNITED."

It became real clear that 95% of the posters were foreigners - typically from Macedonia or Russia. Sometimes elsewhere. They make short curt comments like "Yes!," though occasionally longer. Sometimes real people might engage in a back an forth, but even those are suspect (maybe their better English speakers?). I could post dissenting opinions and not be banned. It is not clear to me if the Admin person -
Brooke Arangolord - is real or not.

Over the last year, I have reported them to Twitter with the only option that sort of fits, spam/scam. Recently, the Admin posted that she was no longer able to admit anyone, block anyone or even post. Did Facebook do that? I've been having a field day posting anti-Trump stories and posts just to test that out. Seems I have total freedom, though I realize I'm talking to trolls most of the time.

I do believe there are a few real people still posting there, but not many.

[PatSeg]

51. Fascinating

I don't know how you can do that and maintain any sanity though.

[NRaleighLiberal]

39. pleased to see that my twitter follower number hasn't changed.

I wasn't being trailed by any Rusbots - or following any.

Can't fool me!

[lisby]

45. Dipped a toe in at that Twitter hashtag

The snowflakery was epic. As was the total inability to grasp what Twitter had done and why.

[raven mad]

57. ....

[forgotmylogin]

58. THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!

[Clarity2]

59. Are we talking Russianbots or anybots

If russian, how do you tell it's russian when they can veil their isp?

Reason I'm asking is that there are still a lot of the remaining big MAGA accts. The ones with a year or two history (as opposed to easily defined bots who are new and have little followers). These big accounts do come up as bots under botcheck. Some of these big maga older accounts were leading the charge on the pizzagate conspiracy, i.e. relentlessly going after podesta on a daily basis and encouraging their little bot followers to do same. I'd call these accounts the "bot whisperers". And I do believe they are RU bots and/or real people from the troll farm. Sorry, but trump supporters don't stay on twitter all day and direct massive attacks with bots, and tweet every 5 min.

This purge only knocked about 50 accts off my bot block list of 800+.

The new accounts are easier to just start a new account after being banned. The older bigger ones, not so easy to wrangle back all those followers. They are the ring leaders. I kind of feel like it wasn't enough.

[lagomorph777]

60. A tiny pinprick into the bubble?

These nitwits are in for a rude awakening when President Turd is perp-walked from the White House to a paddy wagon.

[shanny]

64. My favorite was the guy

tweeting about his locked twitter account.

[obamanut2012]

66. I lost ZERO

[Beartracks]

68. It's not unfair targeting if that's where the fair targets are at!

===========

[efhmc]

71. Saw on Twitter that fake 45 lost a million followers.

This was from someone who compared before and after numbers.

[sarcasmo]

72. It's glorious.

[briv1016]

73. They'll be back within 24 hours.

[ThoughtCriminal]

74. Notice for conservatives

- You do not really have any friends
- Real people are sick of you
- Even your conservative "Friends" would stab you in the back for a few dollars

[brooklynite]

75. Out of curiosity, is there a way to tell?

My follower count looks about the same as it used to.

[dchill]

78. "Trolling Green Massacre?" Hilarious!

[FSogol]

92. Just saw that too. ROFL n/t

[Hermit-The-Prog]

82. so no more @realdonaldtrump?

TrumPutin is the lead Russian twit, right?

[Julian Englis]

87. This #TwitterLockOut is great--Twitter increased my follower count by one and no was added! :-)

I mean no notifications of new followers, but my count went up by 1! It must be reward for trying to start the hashtag #PutinPutInTrump (Putin Put In Trump--pretty good, huh?).

[reflection]

89. You might be a RWNJ if

you believe the many bots represented by twitter handles that evaporated overnight are real people, but that Sandy Hook shooting victims are fictional media constructs.

[BobTheSubgenius]

94. Whine on, feeble little bitches.

Whine on.