Guns for Racism? Twitter Bots Advertising Cheap Guns for Using the N-Word

Racist tweets have made their return since Elon Musk took over Twitter last year. Now things have gotten worse, as spam seems to be out for revenge.

Rolling Stone reported users are being inundated with spam – offering guns for sale – that directly violates Twitter policy. The spam, or bots, are constantly being flagged or reported but it looks as if specific keywords trigger the tweets. If tweeters use the word “guns” or abrasive profanity, a bot will reply “yooo i got cheap guns 4 sale, click the link in my bio.”

According to The Associated Press, Twitter made the announcement last October that 1,500 accounts were removed for posting hate speech. The company also claimed to have reduced the visibility of posts containing slurs, making them harder to find on the platform.

The social media platform must have missed the mark when it comes to their Black tweeters. Bots appear to respond to tweets containing the n-word, targeting potential buyers through a crude form of racial profiling. Black Twitter users have been bombarded with this type of spam, with the link taking users to an underground website, Telegram, full of drugs and firearms. However, some users speculated that law enforcement was behind the spam accounts, specifically targeting Black people.

Of course some users found humor in the issue.

“wassup gang tap tha link in my bio if you need cheap n clean glokks. 302” pic.twitter.com/w8OMgT7CnU

— Su (@SHOTGUNTlMMY) February 24, 2023

Experts like Dr. Jen Golbeck, a professor at University of Maryland, said that while that’s not completely impossible, it’s not likely. “I’ve talked to plenty of FBI guys about this before and Twitter bots seem beyond their normal set of skills,” Golbeck said. “Not that there aren’t people in law enforcement who could do it, but it’s more techy than normal — entrapment at scale.”

Since the Musk takeover, data shows a rapid increase in racist dialogue and verbiage towards Black people and the LGBTQ+ community. Racist undertones have been used over 26,000 times – three times more than in 2022. The trans community has been attacked, with an increase of 53% and hurtful terms towards homosexual men went up 39%.