Who needs the dark web when all your illicit needs are sold for cheap on Amazon? This week, I dig into the bot farm marketplace. Also, did you know we have a quiz? Don’t forget to submit your answers!
Media Mechanics
Amazon sells just about everything these days. Sure, there’s books — they’ve been there since day one. Now, the best-selling fiction is listed alongside funky socks, kangaroo meat and, yes, bot farms.
What’s a bot farm, you ask? Great question. They’re a coordinated network of devices, like iPhones, that are deployed to automate fake online behaviors at a massive scale. They’re used to flood a social media post with likes, for example, or to pollute feeds with scams. I’ve been researching how bot farms are used to spread disinformation. A simple Google search led to an interesting revelation: Bot farm kits are readily available for purchase on Amazon.
Social media feeds are heavily exploited by monied interests and foreign adversaries who unleash swarms of bot accounts to spread disinformation and, ultimately, capture hearts and minds. People who dabble in digital propaganda don’t need to visit the illicit online marketplaces that have sold social media manipulation services for years. They can get their wares on the globe’s largest online retailer — for as little as $188.
The listings make setup sound straightforward, with tips on how to build vast online influence campaigns designed to evade detection from social media platforms “to achieve group control functions.”
“One person can control 20 mobile phones at the same time, perform the same task or perform different tasks separately, and easily build a network matrix of thousands of mobile phones,” according to the listing for one bot farm, which includes a chassis, four cooling fans and “20 mobile phone motherboards.”
In just the past week, multiple storylines have emerged about how political actors leverage inauthentic social media behavior to fake engagement and advance agendas. Big Tech is struggling to keep up.
So are the purveyors of misinformation turning to Amazon to buy the tools of the trade? Who knows? Amazon didn’t respond to my request for comment.
But the listings make one thing clear: Bot farm listings on mainstream web platforms like Amazon lower the barrier to entry. And that means manipulating information pipelines has never been easier.
Here at Straight Arrow, I’m digging deep into the modern media ecosystem. We want to be your source of information about how storylines are built, distributed and distorted.
Let me know how I’m doing — and send story ideas my way. You can reach me at mkeierleber@san.com or on Signal at MarkKeierleber.01.
Miss Spotlights
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Left Media Miss
Photo by Ali Saeedi/Getty Images CENTCOM says Iranian mines have been cleared from Strait of Hormuz
9% left coverage53% right coverage
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The U.S. military said it successfully cleared Iranian sea mines from the Strait of Hormuz’s international shipping lanes. These mines were laid months ago by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, officials said. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, meanwhile, said Iran maintains control over the Strait, state-run media outlet IRNA reported. Even with CENTCOM’s announcement, shipping industry security officials are still cautious because of military advisories that warn about active mine risks and ongoing security clearance operations, according to Lloyd’s List.
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Right Media Miss
William Hale Irwin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Trump administration working on giving part of Yosemite to private developer
60% left coverage14% right coverage
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Trump administration officials are looking at ways to give a part of Yosemite National Park to a private developer from Nevada. NOTUS reported the federal government has been considering ways to give a “quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite” to a company operated by real-estate developer and investment firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital. Officials proposed the National Park Service give the land, or “interest” in it in the form of an easement, to the company in exchange for land valued at an equal amount in California. A spokesperson for the National Park Service said “no final decisions have been made.”
Unbalanced Headlines
What happened:
President Donald Trump posted what appears to be an AI-generated video depicting an attack on Iran’s Kharg Island.
🟦 LEFT HEADLINE:
Impeachment calls as Trump froths at AI video of Kharg Island ‘blown to smithereens’ — Reported Aug. 31, 2026 by Raw Story
🟥 RIGHT HEADLINE:
Trump posts video of ‘Kharg Island being blown to smithereens’ — Reported Aug.31, 2026 by Washington Examiner
Competing narratives
Left-leaning media frames Trump’s post as misleading AI imagery presented as a real military attack.
Right-leaning media frames it as a visual warning of what could happen to Iran’s Kharg Island.
Both agree the video appears to be AI-generated.
Essential Reads
- How an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal reignited a debate about AI use in newsrooms
- Audiences love this ‘Bama Rush’ influencer — does it matter if she’s AI?
- Meta will cap teens at two hours a day. Teens might not listen
To read past editions of the Media Miss Newsletter, click here.
Round out your reading
- Former Fetterman staffers create social media account to expose former boss.
- Why Gen Z finally wants Boomer hand-me-downs.
- Want a copy of Pete Hegseth’s driver’s license? It’s for sale on the dark web.
- Smart glasses helped a man see the world. The privacy panic took it away.
- Americans are keeping cars longer, so the auto industry is making it easier to pay for repairs.
