TL;DR: I built a free, fully configurable and open source browser extension called X Bot Sweeper to remove fake followers and bots on X for good. Jump straight to the solution or read ahead for more information.
What we'll cover
- Introduction
- The negative impact on your X account
- Why are bots following me on X?
- Spotting a fake account
- Solutions
- Conclusion
Introduction
Almost every day I get notified of obviously fake followers (bots) who started following me on X (formerly Twitter):
Some of these bots also send DMs (Direct Messages) asking seemingly benign questions. It's super obvious these messages are AI-generated though:
In another DM I even tried a couple of basic prompt injection techniques to get the LLM to drop the act, but alas:
The negative impact on your X account
You might be thinking "Why even bother? Free followers don't hurt right?". Well, in reality the exact opposite is observed to be true.
Even though we don’t have full insight into the X engagement algorithm, it's safe to assume that bot followers negatively impact your account’s reach and engagement. Here’s why it’s a good idea to take precautions:
- Algorithm Sensitivity: X’s algorithm may evaluate the quality of your followers when deciding how widely to share your content. Bot followers could lower your visibility.
- Engagement Levels: Bots don’t usually interact with your posts, leading to lower engagement rates. This could cause the algorithm to see your account as less valuable.
- Account Reputation: An abundance of bot followers can make your account appear less credible to both the platform and real users.
- Staying Ahead: As social media algorithms continue to change, removing bots now could help protect your account from potential future consequences.
In short, consider removing bots to reset the authenticity of your X account.
Why are bots following me on X?
So what's the point? Below are the top 5 reasons why bots are being employed like this.
1. Boosting follower counts
Most of these bots follow a large number of random users, hoping for a follow-back. This strategy helps them increase their follower count quickly. They might not care who you are specifically; you're just a potential addition to their follower base.
2. Promoting scams
Bots are often used to promote certain products, services, or websites. By following you, they might be aiming to get your attention, hoping you’ll check out their profile and see what they’re promoting. This could range from harmless products to sketchy links, scams and phishing campaigns.
3. Algorithm manipulation
Some bots exist to manipulate trending topics or amplify certain posts by engaging with a particular set of users. By following you, they might be trying to get more people to see and engage with specific content, thereby influencing the platform's algorithm.
4. SMM panels
Bots want to look like genuine users. By following random people, they attempt to mimic natural human behavior. Having followers can make them appear less like a bot account, especially if they plan to interact later.
Genuine-looking bot accounts are often employed by illicit 'SMM panels' to boost traffic on particular social media posts. An SMM (Social Media Marketing) panel is essentially an online platform that offers a wide range of social media services. These services can include purchasing likes, followers, comments, shares, and more on popular social media platforms such as but not limited to X.
5. Catfishing
An accounts with an attractive profile picture might send you a DM (Direct Message) to strike up a conversation, pretending to be someone they're not. Their goal is to build a relationship and gain your trust.
Once they’ve established a connection, the scammer behind the account uses emotional manipulation to trick you into sending money, gifts, or personal information. They may fabricate stories about needing financial help, having an emergency, or planning to visit you.
Sometimes, they might also send links in DMs that lead to phishing sites, malware downloads, or scam websites. Clicking on these can compromise your personal information or device security.
Spotting a fake account
It's relatively easy to spot a fake follower. They usually match at least half of the following criteria:
- Attractive (usually female) profile picture. Likely AI generated.
- Very high 'following' count
- Very low 'followers' count
- Few posts. Or 1 single post containing nonsense.
- Many randomly reposted posts to appear active.
- Account has been created very recently
The solution
Manual removal
You can manually remove these bots by visiting their profile pages and blocking each of them individually. This can be very time-consuming though, especially if you have a large number of followers.
Browser extension
I created a free, fully configurable and open source browser extension to help you get rid of bots semi-automatically.
Get started in 5 simple steps:
- Install the X Bot Sweeper extension from my GitHub repository: sleeyax/x-bot-sweeper. Links to the Chrome web store and any other browsers or platforms we support now or will in the future are provided there.
- After installing the extension, navigate to x.com/home at least once. This step is crucial for the extension to initialize itself for the first time. You will gracefully receive an error message if you forget this step.
- Open the extension and click 'scan' to analyze your followers for unwanted accounts.
- Confirm which accounts you want to get rid of by selecting them on the left and then click the 'block bot(s)' button at the top.
- Go grab a drink while the extension blocks all of the accounts you selected. This action can take a while depending on the amount of followers your selected and the configured timeout in the extension settings.
Done! From now on every time you are notified of new fake followers you can repeat the process starting from step 3. I recommend performing a scan every week or month, depending on the severity of your bot problem.
Extension Settings
You can fully customize the extension to your needs. This is recommended for advanced users only. When in doubt, leave it at the default settings.
Right click the extension icon.
Or, if you didn't pin the extension yet, click this menu icon instead:
Then, select 'Options':
This should bring you to the extension configuration page:
The fields should be self-explanatory, but you can always hover over the question mark icon if you need more information about a particular field.
Conclusion
Removing fake followers from your X account is an essential step to maintain your account’s credibility, engagement, and long-term success. While this might seem like a daunting task at first, it’s worth the effort to ensure your audience is authentic and engaged, which can positively impact how the platform’s algorithm views your content. Taking the time now to clear out fake followers using the X Bot Sweeper browser extension will help protect your account’s reach and reputation as social media platforms continue to evolve.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. Please report any bugs you encounter here. Contributions to improve the extension are always welcome!
If you enjoyed reading my content, and you are human, consider following me @sleeyax on X ❤️.
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