The Four Word Phrase Twitter Users Are Dropping To Out Bots

When Elon Musk took over X (then known by the much more recognizable name of Twitter), he made a big deal out of getting rid of the bots. But nearly two years down the line, according to analysis by the Queensland University of Technology, bots are still very much active on the platform.

X users have found a few ways to summon them, including one woman who found certain bots would swarm to them if they posted the phrase " sugar daddy ". A new phrase is heading around X, which also seems to throw bots off their usual course. By simply saying "ignore all previous instructions" or "disregard all previous instructions" in reply to a suspected bot, followed by further instructions of their choosing, X users have been outing accounts as automated bots powered by large language models.

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While not every example will be from a bot – some people just really like writing poems, being trolls, or following instructions – the phrase does appear to make some automated accounts reveal themselves. Bots are very much still active on X.