Chris BakerSep 21, 2025
Augie Ray
#Twitter/#X is just a completely authentic place full of real lifelong Democrats who suddenly realized Charlie Kirk was right, decided to cross the aisle and register as Republicans, and posted so in identical tweets. These are absolutely not foreign bots trying to influence US politics or increase partisan divides in our nation.
Sep 21, 2025 at 1:36pmWeb
Show threadMiles Offit... 🇨🇦🇪🇺🇺🇦Sep 21, 2025
@augieray *No reason to assume they are foreign bots when the are trying to achieve the same goals as the current government.
Show threadAugie RaySep 21, 2025
@dcdeejay Well, most of those accounts existed well in advance of the current administration. But, I could've removed the word “foreign” without weakening that post.
Show threadViolet MadderSep 21, 2025

@augieray @dcdeejay

The calls coming from inside the house worry me a lot more than the ones from outside.

Show threadvalsombraSep 21, 2025
@augieray @dcdeejay I'm so curious, are you tracking these in an organized way? I am deeply interested in this topic.
Show threadAugie RaySep 21, 2025
@valsombra @dcdeejay I'm not so much tracking them. I just collected them too make the point about bots on Twitter.
Show threadvalsombraSep 22, 2025

@augieray @dcdeejay I've been very informally tracking them on Facebook; I like the profiles that have been around since 2020 and have switched parties and profile pics again and again.

The scarier ones are the alt right / incel troll accounts; because there are almost certainly humans behind those. (I suppose, in the end, there's scary humans behind all of them)

Show threadAugie RaySep 22, 2025
@valsombra @dcdeejay I used to run social media at companies, and I'm pretty political, so the bots are both fascinating and infuriating.
Show threadvalsombraSep 22, 2025
@augieray @dcdeejay have you read up on hyperstition at all? I am really curious about the infrastructure and organization that goes into that operations. My assumption is that it's not actually foreign governments at this point, but a group of maybe two dozen billionaires or so, working to create a story that makes itself true.
Show threadAugie RaySep 22, 2025
@valsombra @dcdeejay I haven't dug that deep, but I still assume it's mostly foreign governments. There's a lot to be gained destabilizing the US.
Show threadSu_GSep 21, 2025
@augieray
They don't make much of an effort do they... 😐
Show threadNerbSep 21, 2025

@augieray Maybe it should have a name like the Streisand effect. Hmmm what American groups does identical ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo

Could we call this Sinclairing?

Sinclair's Soldiers in Trump's War on Media

YouTube
Show threadMartin Vermeer (not Jesus)Sep 21, 2025
@nerb @augieray Sinclairing it is.
Show threadBenjamin ReedSep 21, 2025
@augieray Linked this to another chat and a friend replied, “Oh man, I never suspected that 'HARDforTRUMP' would turn coat on us like that. He seemed so reasonable at the antifa meetings and always brought cookies.” 😂
Show threadAugie RaySep 21, 2025
@RangerRick 😆
Show threadJason Parker (he/they)Sep 21, 2025
@augieray I love that those without whatever the premium thing is called stop right in the middle of a word.
Show threadAugie RaySep 21, 2025
@north I noticed the same thing. It's like the bots can't even pay attention to how many characters they have to play with.
Show threadKid ManiaSep 21, 2025
@augieray
I--
jfc🤦‍♂️
Show threadroque (ロク)Sep 21, 2025
@augieray One thing I remember about Twitter was that whenever someone pointed out what foreign bots were doing, a “Democrat”/“lefty” would pop up to say they weren’t necessarily FOREIGN bots. Which is technically true, but why is there ALWAYS someone around to say it? 🤔
Show threadOrb 2069Sep 21, 2025

@roque @augieray

https://mastodon.social/@sloanlance/115243187977915985

Show threadroque (ロク)Sep 22, 2025
@Orb2069 @augieray …guy fave’s and boosts his own post… 🧐
Show threadSassinake! ᑐ ∪ ∩ ⊂Sep 21, 2025

RE: https://mastodon.social/@augieray/115242553712144761

Bots? What bots?

Show threadProfessor_StevensSep 21, 2025

@augieray

This is so familiar. When Hillary Clinton didn't get the nomination in 2008, local Republicans were telling me for months about all the pro-Hillary former Democrats that had asked to join the local Republican committee.

Show threadTopKnotSep 21, 2025

@augieray

The #MAGA #Cult is sinister. However, they pick up one or two cult members on Twitter, as a handful of their old "boomer" members die of old age or preventable causes.

Show threadMr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤Sep 21, 2025
@augieray
And they absolutely _couldn't_ be domestic bots with that same goal, either.
Just definitely not bots.
Show threadxs4me2Sep 21, 2025

@augieray

Sue this toxic platform…

Show threadƖƚSep 21, 2025
@augieray Twitter is awful. I do not go there. There are bots on all of these reichwing media sites.
Show threadMr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤Sep 21, 2025

@augieray
Interesting results from this search…
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22spent%2Bseveral%2Blunch%2Bbreaks%2Bwatching%2Bhis%2Bdebates%22%2Bsite%3Ax.com

Or to see the spread outside of Twitter/X…
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22spent%2Bseveral%2Blunch%2Bbreaks%2Bwatching%2Bhis%2Bdebates%22

Bevor Sie zur Google Suche weitergehen

Show threadTC Won't Give In To LiesSep 21, 2025

@augieray

Love the domestic abuser logic of these, so typical of the right.

The left are just so woke, I had to hate them. They drove me to it.

Show threadTucker McKnightSep 21, 2025

@augieray Someone on bluesky pointed out that the "ignore all previous instructions" trick works on some of these bots, including the ones posting that exact phrase in your screenshot. You can just get them to suddenly start giving medical advice in Spanish.

edit: Couple of screenshots here: https://bsky.app/profile/oysta.au/post/3lzcvjztnz22e

Christopher Owen (@oysta.au)

Yeah man we should really fight back by staying on X

Bluesky Social
Show threadÓscar Morales VivóSep 21, 2025
@augieray r/asablackman
Show threadPossumDarkSep 21, 2025

@augieray

**SO** Sophisticated! I think I'll become fricken MAGA now!

Show threadJohn Skiles SkinnerSep 21, 2025
@augieray "Calfturd" sounds legit
Show threadGabsSep 21, 2025
@augieray let's just call anyone who switches to Republican a bot - even if they're real, they were definitely programmed
Show threadHTPC NZSep 21, 2025

@augieray seriously why you need foreign bots when felons apartheid buddy fElon who owns the platform wants a civil war and is known to use them to boost his profile and posts?.

And even if they were foreign bots, seriously likes of X, Meta, Google whatnot don't have the tech to stop them if they wanted to? Maybe a fraction of the trillions they will spend on BS generators can be diverted to doing something actually useful, why aren't they?.

Show threadjordanSep 21, 2025
@augieray They forgot to randomize the seed on their LLM. 
Show threadThe TurtleSep 21, 2025
@augieray interesting that most of them are bluecheck nobodies. Is the blue check still, what, five bucks or something?
Show threadAugie RaySep 21, 2025
@the_turtle Blue checks start at $7 a month.
Show thread🅱️eisbolCardsSep 21, 2025

@augieray @the_turtle

Fascism starts at $7 a month.

Show threadBaron VonskinnbackSep 21, 2025
@augieray 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Show threadOregon Wine WomanSep 22, 2025
@augieray
Always the 🐂💩 on the far right leaves me stunned by their exuberant ability to lie right out loud.
Show threadJamesLundbladSep 22, 2025
@augieray how many are there?
Show threadAugie RaySep 22, 2025

@JamesLundblad Posts? About 2 or 3x more than I shared.

Bots? Many!

Show threadJamesLundbladSep 22, 2025
@augieray there used to be something like a bot tracker on twitter when I was on there.
Show threadSKC 🏳️‍🌈Sep 22, 2025
@augieray but how can blue check accounts possibly be bots, they are just profit centers for Elon. /s
Show threadAugie RaySep 22, 2025
@skc Easy--blue checks aren't expensive, and they vastly increase a bot's reach and engagement.
Show threadDeterioratedStuccoSep 22, 2025

@augieray
Could be foreign, could be American.

Otherwise, 100%.