How to spot a TikTok bot

TikTok is a platform that thrives on user engagement, creativity, and interaction. However, with its popularity has come the rise of bots - automated accounts designed to mimic human behaviour, often for malign purposes such as generating fake engagement or spreading spam.

But how can you tell if an account is a bot or not? While they can be difficult to detect, paying attention to certain behaviours and patterns can help you spot a bot. Whether it’s their lack of authentic interaction, dodgy account name, suspicious activity, or generic comments, identifying bots is easy, with a keen eye.

Knowing when you’ve encountered a bot reduces the risk of a spammed feed and wasted time interacting (or arguing) with one.  From a more holistic perspective, some of us must try and maintain the integrity of the TikTok community, right?

So, how to spot a bot…

We’ll start with the obvious. Look out for generic or repetitive comments. Bots are designed to mimic human interaction, but they often lack the nuance and personalisation of real people. Simple example: if you spot an account repeatedly leaving the same generic comment, like “Nice video!” or “Follow me back!”, that’s a clear bot-ism.

Comment relevance is another telltale sign. Bots often don’t take time to watch videos, funnily enough. Instead, they leave random or irrelevant comments that don’t align with the video’s content. A comment like “Nice video! I love that” on a cooking tutorial or tech review could be an indicator. Most bots will attempt to blend in with human-like behaviour but really struggle to replicate the unique interactions that happen in a genuine TikTok community. Bots typically don’t form personal relationships with creators or users.

Another common trait of the bot is an unbalanced follower-to-following ratio. Bots are designed to gather as many followers as possible, so accounts with thousands or millions of followers but only a handful of people they’re following could indicate something’s up. Any bot worth its salt will usually follow a large number of accounts in a short amount of time in the hopes of gaining follow-backs. If an account follows tens of thousands of people with little to no followers, it’s almost certainly an indicator of automation.

Profile details that don’t add up should start alarm bells ringing. Bots typically don’t invest much in their profile, which can lead to some noticeable inconsistencies. They often won’t bother uploading a real image of themselves or if they do, chances are it’ll be generic. So, if you see a stock image or a generic avatar, proceed with caution.

Bots rarely take the time to fill out their profile or provide relevant information either. A bio with random characters, non-English text, or just “Follow me” is another good indicator. If you notice that an account's comment section consists solely of likes, emojis, or generic praise with no meaningful interaction, this is another one.

If your bot detector has fired, no replies or meaningful engagement may confirm your suspicions. If someone comments on a video and the original account doesn't reply, especially when other users engage in a more meaningful conversation, the account may well be automated.

Bots often use TikTok to direct users to phishing sites or promote spammy content, so be wary of accounts that post repeated links. If an account posts links to shady sites or asks followers to visit suspicious websites, it could be a bot designed for spam. They’ll also sometimes promote unrelated products or services to drive traffic to other platforms. Be suspicious if anyone is excessively pushing products, especially if they seem unrelated to the account’s content.

With everything happening in the world right now, it can take a will of steel to resist the retort to a provocative statement on social. But beware from the bot perspective. A lot of the time, bots are used to gather data about users, trends, and hashtags. They provide valuable insights for businesses or creators who want to optimise their content strategy. Some developers create bots to test TikTok's algorithms, to gather information about the platform’s functionality and infiltrate more conversations. So, responding to the provocation of a bot could end up boosting the reach of the very people and organisations you despise.