Have you ever thought about how typing certain phrases on X (formerly Twitter) can attract bots? I stumbled upon this issue while searching for an artist on the platform, which made me realize just how prevalent the bot problem has become.
How Certain Phrases Attract Bots on X
Despite the introduction of X Premium, which was meant to combat the bot issue, the problem persists. In fact, I’ve come across several bots that manage to get verified accounts and pose as legitimate users. My first encounter with this phenomenon occurred while I was trying to find an artist to create a whimsical portrait of my cats.
I had no idea that mentioning commissioning artwork would lead to a surge of bots flooding my post and direct messages. While some of these profiles may have been genuine users, many were undoubtedly automated accounts.
It became evident that many of the messages I received were from bots based on the boilerplate responses I got and comments from other users noting that they were likely encountering bots.
My tweet attracted 69 replies, and my inbox became filled with dozens of message requests. Many of these messages came from accounts showcasing artwork that bore no resemblance to what I was hoping to commission, often repeating phrases I used back to me—classic signs that I was dealing with bots.
This experience clued me into the fact that specific phrases can indeed trigger a swarm of bots to approach your account. I decided to dig deeper and found that this strategy has even been labeled “bot yodeling.”
After browsing Reddit threads and other discussions on X, I tested a few phrases to see if I could replicate the effect. It turns out that certain keywords are particularly effective at luring bots.
The phrases that worked best included:
- commission an artist
- Metamask wallet hacked
- sugar daddy
- write an essay
- I need a website
While I didn’t manage to generate the same volume of bot replies as in my initial “bot yodeling” episode, I did gain some insight into just how widespread bot activity is on X. Using phrases like “Metamask wallet” and “hacked” yielded multiple replies from fake support accounts.
When I posted about needing help with an essay, I received a flurry of automated messages from accounts claiming they could write it for me.
Interestingly, I noticed my account was flagged as spam after using these phrases, suggesting that X is aware of which terms attract bots and is trying to limit accounts that engage in this behavior. This makes sense; my posts that invoked bot yodeling garnered significantly higher interactions and views than my usual content.
There are likely even more phrases out there that could draw in bots on X. Although bots are a widespread issue across various platforms, when I tried similar tactics on Threads, I didn’t notice any comparable results.
I hope you can use this knowledge to prevent your replies from becoming overwhelmed by bots on X. After all, one of the ways AI makes social media chaos is by blurring the lines between bots and real users, with many of these bots being involved in common scams on the platform.
