Twitter Bot could be Impersonating You online, How to Find Out
Twitter bots have been around for almost as long as Twitter itself, and plenty of them are funny, provocative, or downright useful. But just like everything else online, there’s a dark side to the world of Twitter bots, as a recent report from The New York Times made clear.
The Times report focuses on Devumi, one of dozens companies that buy and sell Twitter bots to anyone who wants more followers, retweets, or likes. Many of these bots are designed to impersonate real people on Twitter, often copying accounts that haven’t been active in years and making a few small changes to fly under the radar for as long as possible.
One bot modeled after a college student helped share pornography and online gambling. Another, impersonating an executive assistant in Florida, retweeted posts from porn stars and Twitter influencers alike.
These bots can ruin your reputation online without you ever realizing it. Even worse, getting impersonated on Twitter could cost you a new job if a recruiter finds the bot and mistakes it for you.
How to Find Your Twitter Bot
Twitter doesn’t offer any official tools to check for impersonators, and bots can fool the social network for years before they get caught by its algorithms. Thankfully, there are a few tricks you can use to hunt down any Twitter bots you may have before it’s too late.
Another trick, according to the Times, is to add an underscore at the end of the person’s username or somewhere in the middle. Try searching for your Twitter handle with those changes as well and see if anything comes up.
Finally, you might want to try a reverse image search of your Twitter profile picture and background image. Most impersonator bots copy those images exactly, so a quick search might turn something up.
How to Report a Twitter Bot Impersonator
When it comes to impersonating other people, Twitter’s rules are pretty clear. The company allows parody accounts, but that needs to be made clear in both the bio and name.
Article courtesy of lifehacker
