Blue MAGA - Follow Farming

Why was this List created?

Starting November 2024, a sudden rise of users started to post hashtags like #NoDemsUnder1K, #bluecrew and similar hashtags in order to artificially inflate their follower numbers.

This behavior is ultimately detrimental to Bluesky because it means a lot of the site interactions become artificial and geared towards follow farming. Additionally, bad actors are known to do this, gather enough members, then sell the account away to scammers. The high number of followers and posts make the account look legitimate.

This type of scam, called "pig butchering scam", only thrive because people give these types of accounts attention and validation. This Moderation List serves to combat this.

How is this List updated?

We use Blockenheimer to automatically add the followers of known follow farming accounts.

What kind of users are added into this Moderation List?

People who follow accounts engaging in follow-farming are automatically added into this Moderation List. For the intents and purposes of this Moderation List, a follow-farming account fulfills the following:

1. Was created in November 2024 or later;

2. Has an unreasonably large number of followers;

3. Posts and shares #NoDemUnder1K, #NoDemUnder5k, #BlueCrew, Follow for Follow and similar;

4. Has created, or is featured in multiple starter packs that have identical purposes.

Because this list is created automatically, it is humanely impossible for us to analyze every false positive. Please use the Request Addition or Removal form if you believe your inclusion is not related to any of the mentioned reasons.

Note that we will only remove users that do not match the aforementioned criteria. If you do, then we sadly cannot do anything about it.

Remember that Lists are not meant to be defamatory, and users have the rights to filter their feeds as they see fit. Do not use this list as a means to insult others.

Why is follow-farming so bad?

Follow-farming and constantly posting those hashtags have the purpose of inflating the follow numbers to astronomical values. Considering the number of followers and date of creation, it is obvious to know if a certain user was engaging in artificial means to socialize.

A lot of such accounts are created in countries such as those of Southeast Asia, where this is a highly profitable, but extremely harmful, activity. A large number of follows legitimize the account, makes it easier for bad actors to hide within them, and can be sold to a third party for a hefty price. Several workers in subhuman conditions are set to engage in follow-farming scams in order to make a living.

Even if you are not from this background, willingly engaging in follow-farming practices strengthen and enable the scammers, which in turn greatly devalue the social media site as a whole. Scams and unsolicited DMs become commonplace, and spam posts that have nothing to do with the subject start to pop up, often featuring suspicious links that lead elsewhere.

In this day and age where information is said to be the "new petroleum", follow-farming is the tool that facilitates its extraction.

How should I use this list?

Please do not use the "Block All" feature for this Moderation List. The users in this list are (mostly) real people, so please mute or block them individually. We are not responsible for the bad usage of this Moderation List.