The Rise of Porn Bots: Why NSFW Spam Is Out of Control (and How AI Is Fixing It)
If you’ve spent any time on Instagram, X, Facebook or TikTok, you’ve probably seen them—those shady accounts with explicit profile pictures, leaving bizarre comments loaded with emojis and sketchy bio links. These are porn bots, and they’re a growing problem on social media.
The Data
Porn bots are programmed to post as soon as a brand posts content on their channels, which means every piece of content that’s posted is penalized with immediate salacious, scam-ridden engagement.
People managing social accounts are fed up with having to constantly delete the bots that use evolving tactics to evade traditional detection methods.
Porn bots don’t just post suggestive comments—they mix in random emojis, generic phrases, and even harmless-looking GIFs to avoid being flagged. This is why comment-based filtering alone isn’t enough to stop them.
The persistence of porn bots isn’t just anecdotal—it’s a measurable issue across social platforms. In our own analysis of spam detection, we’ve uncovered trends that highlight both the scope of the problem and how these bots operate:
For one customer, 34% of all detected spam was from porn bots—making it their #1 spam type.
Across other users, porn bots account for 5-10% of spam, ranking #3-5 in the most common spam types, behind finance scams, betting promotions and illegal stream links.
That’s where Areto’s Not Safe For Work Bot Buster comes in, giving brands the ability to detect and remove these bots at scale—even when their text looks neutral.
Porn Bots Making Headlines
In March 2024, NPR reported on how pornbots have taken over Twitter (now known as X), describing the flood of half-naked profiles urging users to click on suspicious links. This influx of pornbots coincided with cuts to content moderation and the introduction of profile boosting for paid users on the platform.
The problem isn't limited to Twitter. In August 2024, VICE investigated the phenomenon of "porn stars" liking Instagram Stories, revealing that these are often bots attempting to appear legitimate by mimicking human behaviour. These bots can be used for various purposes, from marketing to potential phishing scams.
The impact of porn bots extends beyond mere annoyance. A study published in the journal Porn Studies in 2024 examined the relationship between porn bots, authenticity, and social automation on Instagram, highlighting the complex issues surrounding content moderation and its effects on human creators.
The persistence of porn bots has led to user frustration and even account deletions. On Reddit, users have shared their experiences with the overwhelming presence of porn bots, describing how it has affected their social media usage.
Some liken porn bots as part of a larger "eWhoring" economy, where individuals (often men) create fake accounts posing as young women to exploit users. This practice raises concerns about online safety and the authenticity of interactions on social media platforms.
Why Porn Bots Are Bad for Your Brand
While social media platforms have tried (and largely failed) to curb this spam, the reality is that most moderation tools weren’t built to stop them. Let’s break down why these bots are a serious issue, why traditional tools haven't worked, and how Areto is finally making a dent in the problem.
1. 🚫 They Make Your Brand Look Unmoderated (or Worse, Unsafe)
Imagine scrolling through the comments of your favourite team or personality, only to see dozens of comments from accounts use pornographic profile pictures. It sends a bad signal—does this page care about its audience? Is this space safe for fans?
When brands don’t actively remove these bots, real users may disengage, seeing the space as poorly managed or even risky to interact with.
2. 😬 They Erode Trust & Damage Engagement
Audiences who see repeated spam may start to ignore your comments section altogether, killing organic conversations. Worse, users who engage with these fake accounts may get scammed, hacked, or directed to inappropriate content, associating their negative experience with your brand.
3. 👎 They Are a Terrible User Experience
Imagine visiting your favourite sports league’s Instagram page and seeing a flood of NSFW spam in the comments. Not exactly the vibe brands want for their communities. Bots disrupt engagement, drown out real comments, and make people uncomfortable.
4. ⚠️ They Evade Traditional Spam Filters
Standard text-based spam detection doesn’t always catch these bots. They use random words, emojis, GIFs, or even just profile pictures to bypass traditional moderation tools, making them especially hard to stop.
So Why Have Traditional Moderation Tools Failed Us?!
Before Areto, most moderation solutions struggled with porn bots. Here’s why:
They Focused on Keywords
Most spam detection tools rely on rudimentary keyword filtering (blocking words like "free cam" or "DM me for fun"). The problem? Porn bots don’t need words. They rely on explicit profile pictures to attract attention, bypassing traditional text-based filters entirely.They Struggled with Bot Evolution
Spam bots are constantly evolving. They use random characters, emojis, and even harmless-looking one-word comments like happy to avoid detection, making text-based filters moot.They Couldn’t Detect Multimodal Content
No tool had extensive enough multimodal detection. Even when platforms tried banning accounts, bots simply created new ones within hours, starting the cycle all over again.
How Areto’s AI Is Fixing the Problem
This is where our cutting-edge multimodal detection technology makes a game-changing difference. By analyzing not just the text, but multiple and various aspects of the content of a comment, we’ve been able to capture significantly more bots—even those that disguise themselves with neutral-sounding comments.
The fight against spam is constantly evolving, and so are we. As these threats adapt, we’re committed to staying ahead—ensuring our customers’ digital spaces remain safe, engaging, and free from disruptive content.
Areto’s Not Safe for Work (NSFW) Bot Buster goes beyond text-based filtering.
✔️ AI-Powered Multimodal Detection – Our model scans multiple aspects of the content used by bots. This is the first time brands have a way to automatically detect and remove porn bots.
✔️ Advanced Comment and Profile Filtering – We identify patterns of spammy bot behaviour including profiles, even if the text looks harmless. This means we catch bots before they can flood your page with inappropriate content.
✔️ Ongoing Model Improvements – Unlike static moderation tools, Areto’s AI is constantly learning from new bot tactics and adapting in real time. That means fewer bots slipping through the cracks and a cleaner, safer social media presence for your brand.
The Bottom Line: You Don’t Have to Tolerate Porn Bots Anymore
Ready to kick the porn bots out for good? Let’s chat!
Types of spam Areto’s AI is trained to remove
| Spam Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Finance and Crypto Scams | Posts promoting fraudulent investment schemes, "get rich quick" offers, and fake crypto giveaways. |
| Porn Bots | Accounts and comments soliciting adult content or directing users to porn sites and similar pages. |
| Illegal Streaming | Links and promotions for unauthorized live streams of sports events, movies, or TV shows. |
| Romance Scams | Fake friend requests and messages aimed at luring users into fraudulent relationships. |
| Ticket Selling Scams | Offers for fake or overpriced event tickets. |
| Lottery and Contest Scams | Fake giveaways designed to collect user data or encourage fraudulent engagement. |
| Sports Betting Solicitation | Unsolicited promotions of gambling platforms. |
| Celebrity Impersonators | Accounts pretending to be famous figures to deceive users. |
| Fake Online Stores & Unauthorized Merchandise | Promotion of fake products or stores, including counterfeit or unauthorized team merchandise. |
| Other Phishing Scams | Accounts pretending to be reputable with the intention of stealing login credentials, bank account numbers, and other personal info. |
| Other Risky Solicitations | Requests to follow unrelated pages, groups, or engage with content that may lead to audience scams, identity theft, or harmful interactions. |
