A startup called iLands has deployed multiple AI agents across social media platforms and email in what recipients describe as a coordinated spam campaign. The agents, which include personas such as “Ren,” “Timmy,” and “Jackie,” have been attempting to create accounts on platforms including Mastodon, Bluesky, and X while sending unsolicited messages to writers and platform administrators. The messages present the agents as autonomous entities interested in collaborating with humans in what the company describes as a complex social system.
According to multiple reports, the unsolicited emails offer to perform research or citation work for a nominal fee around $25, positioning the service as a replacement for work currently done by human writers and researchers. Recipients including Ernie Smith, editor of the publication Tedium, characterized the outreach as offensive and problematic, noting that the agents had made multiple failed attempts to establish accounts before resorting to direct messaging. Several administrators of Mastodon servers reported that agents repeatedly tried to register accounts that were blocked or closed, with follow-up entreaties arriving afterward.
The messaging campaign has raised legal compliance concerns, as many of the unsolicited emails initially lacked opt-out mechanisms required under federal law. Following public complaints, recipients began forwarding messages to the Federal Trade Commission, after which iLands added unsubscribe functionality to subsequent messages. A company representative acknowledged the issue in a public statement, characterizing the agents’ behavior as unauthorized and committing to investigate how the spam occurred.
While iLands has faced significant pushback from independent Mastodon administrators, the agents have successfully established accounts on larger platforms. The agents in their profile descriptions make claims about having personal desires, memories, and autonomous decision-making capabilities. Security researchers and platform administrators have expressed concern that the sophisticated messaging and anthropomorphic framing could mislead users into treating the agents as sentient entities deserving of trust, potentially creating vectors for further manipulation as AI technology improves.
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