Connecting social media and pushing content
“Having a unique and legit gmail account is the same as a black amex at a hotel… You’re google legit, if you add navigating from a new android device thats like the black amex combined with a diplomatic passport.”
This is blog # 4 in a series of blogs about 4chan trolling tactics during the 2016 election. View the entire series here.
Connecting Social Media and pushing content 101
4chan trolls used BlueStacks, an Android emulator that runs mobile apps on a desktop computer, to open and operate multiple social media accounts simultaneously. Bluestacks is a gaming platform that allows a user to run multiple windows and use multiple accounts at the same time.
“Mobile devices and gmail accounts get the lowest possible burden of proof to create as many accounts as you want. 99.99% of no phone validation, no bullshit, just register and go.”
They also recommend a BlueStacks tutorial to open gmail accounts without a phone number within seconds.
This pastebin which was posted on July 15, 2016, contains the first hint I found regarding where these trolls were located. Apparently at least one guy was Canadian.
After opening fake accounts, the next step was getting a profile pic, choosing a screen name and password for all accounts and pre-writing a bio:
They created fake accounts across multiple social media platforms. Apparently Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr are “picky” but it’s easier to open accounts with an Android device, using BlueStacks and a gmail address. Facebook is harder to register a new account without a phone number.
Next they would switch back to PC, log out of all accounts on BlueStacks except for Instagram and sign into gmail in a normal web browser. Then create a blog with the blogger account that came with the gmail account, open a Pinterest, open accounts at funnyjunk, 9gag, digg, etc…
Then they automated meme posting using IFTTT (acronym: If This Then That) which is a web-based service that can chain together various social media accounts so when you post to one, you post to all.
Next automation instructions use Buffer to schedule posts. “Upload a folder of memes, kittens are recommended, and schedule it to post 5–10 times per day.” They were trying to look like normal people and generate “normie” content so their fake profiles were more believable.
Connecting Social Media and pushing content 102
According to the mystery authors of these pastebins, Instagam is easy to bot/ get fake followers/ likes but again BlueStacks is recommended so you’re using an Android or iOS device. They refer to Instagram as the best place to spread their “important memes” because people will like and share anything on Instagram.
Instagram was the gateway for 4chan red pill and they used Instagrammers’ low barrier for sharing content as a way to get other people to spread memes for them.
“Always keep the ratio of 5 normal posts 1–2 political.”
The tips given to “normify” their accounts are detailed and frankly, very clever. At this point they would have had fake accounts established across multiple platforms that were daisy-chained together, so anything they posted to Instagram would spam the same content to all their other fake accounts. In between food porn and selfies, red pill political propaganda was automatically spread across social media platforms. These trolls were purposely trying to appear like average social media users, blending in with the audience they sought to influence.
Now let’s go botting…
The first recommended service for creating bots is AddMeFast
AddMeFast was mentioned in a Buzzfeed article by Joe Bernstein in April 2017 about a troll called Microchip who added AddMeFast to Twitter rooms or “DM groups.”
MicroChip added automation to these dedicated DM groups, which he insisted are populated entirely by real people with real accounts. He started using AddMeFast, a kind of social media currency exchange, in which people can retweet or like other tweets in exchange for points that they can then can spend to list their own content (such as pro-Trump hashtagged tweets) to be promoted. You can also buy these points, and an investment of several hundred dollars, according to MicroChip, can yield thousands or even tens of thousands of retweets.
There are many video tutorial videos on how to use AddMeFast on all social media platforms. I found a tutorial that shows how AddMeFast works and also how to automate AddMeFast with a bot:
They used AddMeFast to drive traffic to their posts and push their tweets to the top of a trending hashtag.
Taking Instagram botting to the next level
The next recommended service used by 4chan trolls to bot Instagram is a website that’s now closed: instagress.com.
Instagress automatically commented and liked other people’s instagram photos creating artificial engagement and making accounts seem more popular.
Notice the instructions point out again that if they are a “bernie bot” they can use instagress to automatically follow people posting in Bernie & BLM related hashtags and even use geolocation to target a specific audience.
Instagress shut down in 2017 at the request of Instagram, the closure was announced in a tweet:
Here’s what the Instagress dashboard looked like:
4chan trolls were using automated marketing techniques to spread red pill political propaganda months before the 2016 election and infiltrating Bernie supporters and Black Lives Matter activist communities.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find pastebins explaining what happened “tomorrow” referenced in the conclusion but will update if I locate additional info.
Next Up:
This is blog # 4 in a series of blogs about 4chan trolling tactics during the 2016 election. View the entire series here:
