One of the many unfortunate rites of passage as a digital marketer is being locked out of your social media account. The platforms — Meta, especially — have a hair-trigger on locking people out. And it's mostly because of the millions of bot accounts that constantly try to hack their way in.
This week, The Guardian reported about some devious software that's behind many of these bots.
The software is called Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or AIMS, which controls more than 30,000 fake social media profiles that can be used to spread disinformation at scale and speed on platforms, including:
- Telegram
- Gmail
- YouTube
- Amazon
- Airbnb
The software is said to be written by a group called ‘Team Jorge', a hacking and disinformation unit for hire.
🤖 Who’s a Bot? Who’s Not?
According to the Guardian report, the group's leader told undercover journalists that each avatar is given a multifaceted digital backstory. He also said his avatars mimicked human behaviour and their posts were powered by artificial intelligence.
Other techniques are also used to make avatars more credible and avoid the bot-detection systems developed by tech platforms. The group's leader noted that his bots were linked to SMS-verified phone numbers, and some even have Amazon accounts with credit cards. AIMS also has different groups of avatars with various nationalities and languages.
In any case, it is evident that avatars peddling propaganda are using stolen images of real people to do so.
👉 Who’s Using the Software?
Furthermore, the group's leader said that they sold access to their software to unnamed intelligence agencies, political parties and corporate clients.
Through an investigation using AIMS-linked avatars revealed by Team Jorge, reporters were able to trace their activity across the internet, identifying their involvement in what appeared to be mostly commercial disputes in over 20 countries including:
- The UK
- U.S.
- Canada
The Guardian reported that Twitter declined to comment, and Meta took down Aims-linked bots on its platform this week after journalists shared a sample of the fake accounts with the company.
