Come on you wonderful people - surely some tech-savvy Mastodenizen can win this prize! Since Linda Reynolds’ defamation case began, a bot storm has been unleashed on Twitter (OK, OK, “X”) of spookily similarly worded tweets of sympathy and support for Reynolds, all from new accounts with nonsensical bios and a handful of followers (see Exhibits A and B sourced from @EmergencyBK’s Twitter account). These accounts apparently include chicken shop owners in Leningrad, professional basketballers in Wyoming and makija stylizacja paznocki artists from Louisiana, individuals who, unless Linda Reynolds’ international profile has grown markedly while we weren’t paying attention, seem unlikely to be closely following an ill-judged defamation action in Perth, Western Australia. Who is behind them? The Shot is offering $5000 for a tech-savvy reader who can incontrovertibly prove the individual or organisation that is behind these bots. Tell us who is coordinating and paying for them and you could win a cash prize of $5000 paid for from the Shot’s Blind Trust. Bonus points (but no extra cash) if you can uncover if they also have links to the troll bots who send constant abuse to Brittany Higgins. And no, on this occasion we don’t mean Janet Albrechtsen but rather the bot farms behind the virulent online harassment of Brittany and her family.

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WE’RE GOING ON A BOT HUNT! Join us for the chance to win $5000 - The Shot

Help us find who is behind the bots posting about Linda Reynolds