Elon Musk took over Twitter promising to rid the platform of what he described as its biggest problem: bots. In typical fashion, he not only failed to keep his word, but the paid verification system he claimed would solve the problem pushed further fake accounts in user streams. Useless advertisement and artificial entanglement they are all over the site, along with a lot of misinformation and extremism.
But since early 2024, a distinct style of spam bot has been dominating the conversation — if you can call it that. Open the replies to any post that's gotten some traction and there's a decent chance you'll see what appear to be attractive, scantily clad women teasing candid images of themselves. It doesn't matter what the original tweet says, as the message is never modified to sound like a natural response. Instead, it's a bold notice in capital letters spaced apart: “HOT LINK IN BIO,” “MY TITS IN BIO,” or, more commonly, “MY PUSSY IN BIO.” The suggestion is that if you navigate to the profile, you will find a link to adult content.
The digitally literate among us will naturally recognize this as some sort of half-assed honeypot. The Internet is home to an unlimited supply of pornography, and you don't have to resort to an arbitrary, unsolicited link from a Name Bunchofnumbers account to get your fix. However, whoever runs the “pussy in bio” bots must have a measure of success with this, because more and more appear as others retire. You also can't block them fast enough to keep your stream clean.
These spam accounts have gone viral in another way, and are a frequent subject of complaints about refinement of X — and, inevitably, a meme. The blunt and oddball style of the bots' messages, combined with their inability to read the room, have made them perfect social media icons in 2024, where mercenary self-promotion is everyone's priority and all meaningful context has decayed. There's no fleeting thought, no cultural reference that can't take a hard left turn into “MY PUSSY IN BIO” without warning.
“PUSSY IN BIO” has also, it seems, become a kind of catchphrase for upbeat optimism (as opposed to deep depression) and seductive vibes. K-pop stans use it when they admire the stage presence and dance moves of their favorite performers. Some comedians, meanwhile, just have fun with wordplay. In all this varied usage, it seems Twitter addicts – besieged daily by relentless porn bots – can't get this silly mantra out of their heads. Instead of trying to clean it up, they reclaim it as their own, in the name of humanity.
However, the mystery still remains as to why we are suddenly faced with so many dubious accounts promising graphic content on these very terms. Most likely, it represents someone's latest attempt to bypass Twitter's moderation features — which were never entirely effective and have apparently been downgraded somewhat under Musk.
“Porn spam of various kinds has been a thing on this platform for years, but the format is constantly changing, apparently to avoid X/Twitter's spam detection systems,” says a data scientist and software developer who goes by. @conspirator0 and writes a Substack newsletter about it manipulation of social media. “Inserting the odd characters between the letters is probably the most recent adaptation and has the added benefit of potentially confusing sensitive language filters.”
The similarity of such profiles and posts—and the sheer number of them—is evidence of a coordinated network, according to @conspirator0. He suspects that “an individual or group running some kind of mass account creation software” is behind the phenomenon. As for what they're looking for, it's probably not a sexting relationship. The links may be associated with malware or phishing scams that could expose your personal information. “I can't say with 100 percent certainty without testing it directly, but the constant recycling through new domain names strongly suggests it,” says @conspirator0, “and Norton's automated systems have flagged the domains they connect as ” safety and security'. problems”.
So, if you find yourself mesmerized by a stunning model offering up naughty photos in the comments of your unremarkable tweet, it's time for a reality check. The good news is that it won't be long before spammers change tack once again in their ongoing campaign of deception and (alleged) data extortion. What we're seeing now is yet another low point for a site that has seen much better days, but that doesn't mean it can't sink lower. The next bot trend, depending on how dumb or annoying it is, may well make us nostalgic for the days of 'PUSSY IN BIO'. Which, you have to admit, is already a comforting refrain in this wild world we share.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/twitter-porn-bot-sex-meme-1234973030/