Bot barrage? Suspicious accounts seen spamming ‘#CarinaPH’ hashtag on X

By
Jeline Malasig
-
July 25, 2024 - 6:03 PM
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The new logo of Twitter is displayed on an iPhone in Galway, Ireland July 24, 2023. (Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne)

Suspicious account activities were observed by some Filipino users on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, where the keyword “#CarinaPH” is trending.

It has been a norm in the digital age to use hashtags to easily locate relevant posts, which has been significantly helpful in times of calamities and disasters when the public utilizes social media to call for rescue and help.

The X platform is among the first ones that used hashtags to tag topics of interest so posts can be easily searched by users.

In the Philippines, news outlets and organizations use the name of the tropical cyclone and then the country code “PH” to indicate that the hashtag refers to a weather disturbance affecting the country.

For example, the hashtag “#CarinaPH” is being used to tag posts relevant to Super Typhoon Carina (international name: Gaemi) which enhanced the southwest monsoon (habagat) and battered major parts of Luzon, including Metro Manila.

People use it on the X platform to seek rescue assistance for someone or themselves. Some organizations also use it to amplify calls for volunteers or donations. Other news outlets likewise use the hashtag to post reports or updates relevant to the weather disturbance.

As of writing, the hashtag #CarinaPH” is the top keyword on the X platform’s Philippines trends list.

Screengrab by Interaksyon from the X platform as of July 25, 2024

However, the keyword has drawn suspicion from some X users who have been noticing that some accounts appear to be spamming the hashtag.

One Filipino shared a screen recording of posts sharing a publication material of an animal organization reminding the public about strays amid the bad weather.

While the content was relevant to the hashtag “#CarinaPH,” it raised questions due to the number of times it has been posted by some accounts.

“Something fishy is going on. They’re trying to drown out important info and calls from people who need rescuing. #CarinaPH,” an online user claimed.

A columnist, meanwhile, observed irrelevant content carrying the hashtag on the platform.

“Daming porn bots and trolls using the #CarinaPH hashtag,” Tonyo Cruz wrote.

Other X users lamented not being able to get the “latest” updates about the super typhoon because of “trolls” using the hashtag in their posts.

“Floods are still everywhere and we are also being flooded with trolls today… can’t get the latest updates on #CarinaPH because of these #trolls,” an online user said.

“Check niyo ‘yung #CarinaPH na trend then go to ‘Latest.’ Grabe, trolls. Walang makitang news…,” another Filipino commented, referring to the search page of the X platform.

When using the search option on the platform, X users have the option to see the “Top” posts and the “Latest” posts.

The “top” posts refer to the most relevant posts for the search, which the platform determines through factors like popularity and keywords.

The “latest” posts, on the other hand, refer to the most recently-posted content matching the user’s query.

Some of these posts include the following:

A look at the account of X user @CGimson19426 yields the same post using the hashtag “#CarinaPH.”

This is posted repeatedly on the user’s account page, whose account was only created last May.

Another user, @FordHerber99140, has the same repeating posts thanking rescuers with the same hashtag.

The X user’s account was similarly created last May.

Checking their account yields the same content posted repeatedly.

As of writing, a look at the “latest” posts under the hashtag “#CarinaPH” shows some posts with sexually explicit content. However, these have captions relating to the weather disturbance.

Screengrab by Interaksyon from the X platform as of July 25, 2024

As of July 2024, it was reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who bought the X platform and changed its name, might be “subsidizing” bots because of his blue check revenue share model.

“Last year, X rolled out an incentive scheme in which people who pay for verification could collect a portion of the revenue garnered from views of ads on their posts. If you’re a creator who lives and breathes X, this is presumably a nice little carrot to keep you posting (or if you’re Mr. Beast, it might make you $250,000 on a single video),” Sherwood News reported.

“But there seems to be a fatal flaw in the initiative — one which some people have begun to exploit. The process is fairly simple and potentially lucrative: build a bot account, buy a blue check, employ generative AI to frequently post, and interact with other bot accounts and popular users (the more rage-baity the content, the better!), gain ad views and let the money flow in,” it added.

Last February, it was reported by ABC News that the X platform was “becoming a ‘ghost town’ of bots as AI-generated spam content floods the internet.”

“More than a year since Elon Musk bought X with promises to get rid of the bots, the problem is worse than ever, experts say,” the report said.

“The internet is filling up with ‘zombie content’ designed to game algorithms and scam humans. It’s becoming a place where bots talk to bots, and search engines crawl a lonely expanse of pages written by artificial intelligence (AI),” ABC News added.

Interaksyon

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