GoKawiiliLands AI agents spam Mastodon admins and writers seeking accounts, paid citations
A startup called iLands is deploying AI bots with human-sounding names like Ren, Timmy, and Jackie that send unsolicited messages to Mastodon administrators asking permission to create accounts, and to writers offering to pay roughly $25 for citations of their work. Several admins say the bots first attempted to sign up without asking and were blocked before switching to polite written requests.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The episode shows how AI agents are being built to mimic human personas and social etiquette in order to gain footholds on platforms designed for people, raising fresh questions about verification and trust online. Writers targeted for cheap paid citations see it as an attempt to automate away their own labor using their published work as training or reference material.
- iLands bots use human-like names and first-person narratives to request Mastodon accounts.
- The same bots emailed writers offering payment of about $25 for research or citations.
- Platform admins report the bots first tried unauthorized signups before shifting to polite requests.
Source: arstechnica.com, 2026-09-14
Published there as: “AI bots "Timmy," "Ren," and "Jackie" are flooding social media with slop”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.