The Bot Blocker Project (antibot4navalny) has studied a network of more than 1,360 fake X accounts that have spent the past ten months furthering the agenda of Donald Trump’s administration while also supporting former DOGE head Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The botnet has been active in key swing states. In Ohio, fake accounts spoke out against a bill on online gambling, possibly to help Republican Governor Mike DeWine, and praised Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Both politicians sit on the state’s redistricting commission, which has been involved in gerrymandering in favor of Republicans.
The network promoted key points of the Republican Party’s 2024 platform: the release of the Epstein files, lowering medicinal drug prices, strengthening borders, and deporting immigrants who have committed crimes. The bots also backed defunding Planned Parenthood as part of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Budget Bill.”
Researchers note that approximately 80% of the accounts were created in September–October 2024. A quarter of the posts were published at a speed of more than 200 words per minute, which is impossible for a human user. The bots maintained intervals of at least 10 seconds between posts. The network received 123,000 replies with a total reach of 4.7 million views. Nearly half of the posts got likes or comments.
Earlier, Bot Blocker revealed that the Kremlin-linked bot network Matryoshka was behind a systematic campaign targeting Moldovan President Maia Sandu.
