By Isabelle Wilson-
Twitter boss Elon Musk(pictured) has offered a $1 million bounty in the search to find those responsible for Twitter ‘botnets’ causing absolute havoc.
Elon Musk appeared to offer a $1 million bounty if the source of “botnets” purportedly targeting reputation scores could be identified after Twitter made some of its algorithms open-source Friday.
A botnet is a network of computers or Internet-connected devices running bots under someone’s control, according to Malwarebytes.
When botnets take over several accounts, they are able to limit the reach of many accounts through mass blocking, unfollowing, and reporting them.
“Who is behind these botnets? Million dollar bounty if convicted,” Musk wrote on Twitter, after Steven Tey showed how Twitter Blue users get a boost on the platform in a thread analysing the code.
Twitter released coding information that showed how it recommended tweets to followers on the For You feed.
In a Twitter thread, Steven Tey shared his analysis of the information, concluding that Twitter Blue are boosted in the algorithm.
These devices are allegedly targeting reputation scores on Twitter, which follows on from the platform’s decision to make some of its algorithms and coding information open-source.
“Twitter just open-sourced their algorithm,” explained security boffin Steven Tey. “Some initial takeaways: Your following to follower ratio matters. @TwitterBlue subscribers do get a boost in the algorithm.”
He added that the algorithm was prone to creating “negative feedback loops” that would reduce a user’s “reputation score.” Getting blocked, muted, and receiving reports of abuse or spam affect a user’s score.
Botnet refers to a group of computers that have been infected with malware and are being controlled by a single actor, according to cybersecurity company Cloudflare.
The user said by taking control of several accounts, botnets were able to suppress certain accounts by mass blocking, unfollowing, and reporting them.
“Who is behind these botnets? Million dollar bounty if convicted,” responded Musk, the Twitter CEO.
Another security researcher, @boriquagato, quoted Steven’s tweet and explained how the bots are targeting accounts and have the ability to block lists, follow and unfollow.
“They block w/ 100k bots/add you to block lists. Follow then unfollow mass report and mute. And you’re silenced @elonmusk,” the expert tweeted.
“Easy fix: only allow blue check mutes/blocks/reports to count. Ban blocklists.”
Musk then responded to the tweet: “Who is behind these botnets? Million dollar bounty if convicted.”
Well, the tech savvy billionaire has recently joined a group of tech chiefs who want to pause the development of artificial intelligence (AI).
The likes of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, have signed an open letter demanding that all labs training AI systems stop for at least six months.
US tech firm OpenAI released its latest version of AI chatbot ChatGPT earlier this month – after it was officially launched last year.
The bot can respond to questions in a human-like manner and understand the context of follow-up queries, much like in human conversations. It can even admit its own mistakes or reject inappropriate requests.
The release of Twitter’s open-source algorithm revealed some interesting quirks.
Blogger Jane Wong pointed out that Twitter’s algorithm specifically labels if Musk wrote a tweet.
The company also appears to label major figures including Jack Dorsey, Katy Perry, Stephen Curry, and Barack Obama as “testing accounts,” per Wong.
ChatGPT also broke the record to become the fastest-growing user base ever and reportedly reached over 100 million active users in January this year.
“Recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no-one – not even their creators – can understand, predict or reliably control,” the letter reads.
“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”
They have called for researchers to focus on making sure the technology is accurate, safe and transparent.
The letter added: “Humanity can enjoy a flourishing future with AI. Having succeeded in creating powerful AI systems, we can now enjoy an ‘AI summer’ in which we reap the rewards, engineer these systems for the clear benefit of all and give society a chance to adapt.
“Society has hit pause on other technologies with potentially catastrophic effects on society.
“We can do so here. Let’s enjoy a long AI summer, not rush unprepared into a fall.”