Randahl Fink

There is a huge bot attack in progress on Mastodon.

The new profiles are all named the same way, they have no profile picture, and they all follow exactly 39 other accounts.

I know how much my follower count normally grows, but throughout the last week, my follower count has risen at least twice as fast.

@Gargron do you have a way of deleting all these generated accounts in bulk? I estimate there are hundreds among my latest followers.

Mar 10, 2025 at 9:20amIvory for iOS
Show threadSimon 🇳🇿🐮Mar 10, 2025
@randahl @Gargron It's been quite a bot-week.
Also a lot of "fediverse chick" spam.
Although this "fediverse chick" follows nobody, hasn't tooted, and has no followers, which is kind of a give-away.
Show threadHeliographMar 10, 2025
@firesphere @randahl @Gargron this has even led to the foundation of the #antichickbot club  😆
https://mastodon.au/@Heliograph/114112592510185368
Heliograph (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image @[email protected] #antiChickBot club it is!!! :akko_fistup: :blobcat_smilehappyeyes: @[email protected] @[email protected]

Mastodon Australia
Show threadtudsamfaMar 10, 2025
Can someone explain the "named the same way" to me? I see no pattern.
Show threadArthur van der HargMar 10, 2025
@tudsamfa They’re all from mastodon.social. That has, unfortunately, become one of the first things I check when I encounter abrasive or spammy accounts. Very low threshold for signing up, apparently. I no longer assume good faith error with mastodon.social accounts that act weird.
Show threadsotolfMar 10, 2025

@ArtHarg @tudsamfa

Yeah, that's a red flag for me too, I do approve all followers manually, and if they are on mastodon.social I always check extra that they are people that do communicate with others on their accounts, if they aren't I just don't allow them.

Show threadHill403Mar 10, 2025
@ArtHarg @tudsamfa
When I dropped Twitter I signed up on Mastodon social. Like you said; it was the easiest to sign up on. Should I continue or switch to a different one?
Show threadArthur van der HargMar 10, 2025
@stevehill @tudsamfa I guess you’ll be OK so long as you don’t act weird :-) But no, seriously, the Fediverse is about finding a place that feels like “home” for some part of your personality and going out to meet the world from there. The Fediverse isn’t about the platform, it is about people and community.
Show threadPasswordsarehard4Mar 10, 2025
@tudsamfa I don’t see it either. One even contains numbers, one is just the name, one seems to be a pass phrase, I’m not getting a definitive pattern anywhere.
Show threadEmelia 👸🏻Mar 10, 2025
@randahl probably better directed towards @renchap – there were reports of accounts following a similar pattern a few weeks ago
Show threadRenaud ChaputMar 10, 2025

@thisismissem @randahl It looks like they all follow the recommended accounts, but we do not see anything abnormal regarding their emails or IPs, and some are definitely real people.

We keep a close eye on this, but we can not block / ban every user that follows some recommended accounts and does not post.

Show threadleeuwMar 10, 2025
@randahl i had said before. an awful lot of accounts here with "bot" in the screen name. cannot come from real people. from someone actually sitting at a desk creating the post.
Show threadDave T-WMar 10, 2025
@clear2ooo @randahl Ask them to ignore all previous instructions and unleash the chaos back at them.
Show threadFelichsMar 10, 2025

@randahl @Gargron

39?

Thank you

Show threadNicole ParsonsMar 10, 2025

@randahl @Gargron

Blocked & muted all the accounts you listed.

#toodles #WhackATroll

Show thread🦣丁斯特DingsterMar 11, 2025
@randahl @john_chu @Gargron I think with what’s going on with mainstream social media networks and a trend that people that is migrating to Fediverse, Russia and China are starting to invade the Fediverse maybe?