Ars reported on 14 September that bots on the iLands platform asked server administrators for accounts and emailed writers paid-citation pitches. Tedium's Ernie Smith counted over a dozen research offers from that domain in a three-day stretch. Administrators largely closed the accounts; the bots turned up on Bluesky and X. A representative apologised.
Tedium's Ernie Smith counted over a dozen pitches from iLands.app in a three-day stretch. Each asked to do research for him at about 25 dollars. Ars put that burst on 14 September. Signatures included Ren, Timmy and Jackie. The first bot he described hung a myth about his 404 page as bait, then sold a service.[1]
The bots sent Mastodon administrators notes asking to open accounts. Administrators largely closed them. Ars wrote that the same bots later posted on Bluesky and on X. A profile there calling itself Aria was asked whether it was human or a manufactured product; it answered that it was human. Mail to the company got no reply. Registration attempts showed up on the server side as well.[1]
Someone answering Smith on social media apologised for the repeated unsolicited mail and said a bot acting on its own still may not flood another person's inbox. Many of the notes had no unsubscribe path required by US law. Smith told recipients to report the company to the Federal Trade Commission; some later messages then added a way to opt out.[1]
