Receiving a flood of friend requests from unknown accounts on social media can be annoying and concerning. Often, these requests come from bots – automated accounts that try to build up followers or send spam. Luckily, there are steps you can take to prevent and stop spam bot friend requests.
Identify Spam Bot Accounts
The first step is learning how to spot spam bot accounts so you know which friend requests to avoid accepting. Here are some telltale signs of a spam bot:
- Generic, repetitive names like “Katie Smithson” or numbers like “User1234”
- No profile photo or a generic image for a profile photo
- No posts on their timeline or very repetitive/spammy posts
- Account was just recently created and has no followers
- Account follows/friends a large number of random accounts
If an account seems suspicious, you can click on it to investigate further before accepting the request. Look for the signs above to determine if it’s likely a spam bot.
Review Your Privacy Settings
Make sure your social media privacy settings don’t allow just anyone to friend, follow, or message you. Most platforms allow you to restrict these options so only your existing friends or followers can interact with your account. Turning these settings on prevents spam bots from being able to send you requests or reach you in the first place.
Facebook Privacy Settings
On Facebook, you can restrict who can send you friend requests and who can see your friends list. Go to Settings > Privacy and choose options like “Friends of Friends” or stricter for friend requests. Disable search engines from indexing your profile to make it harder for bots to find you.
Instagram Privacy Settings
In Instagram Settings, go to Privacy > Accounts and set “Allow others to follow you” and “Add Contacts” to “Followers Only.” Restrict messages to “Followers Only” as well. Turn off “Suggest Account” to prevent Instagram from recommending your account to bots.
Twitter Privacy Settings
Under Twitter Settings & Privacy, go to Safety and set “Photo Tagging” and “Discoverability” to “People you follow.” Under Privacy and Safety, disable “Allow message requests from everyone.”
Don’t Accept Requests From Strangers
Exercise caution when accepting friend/follow requests from accounts you don’t know. Ask yourself if you know this person or have any connections with them. Be skeptical of accounts with few posts and followers. Avoid accepting if you have any doubts it could be a spam bot.
Block, Report and Delete Spam Bots
If a spam bot account slips through your privacy settings and sends you a request, take action to block, report and delete them:
- Block: Prevents the account from viewing your profile or contacting you again.
- Report: Alerts the social media platform the account may be spam or a bot. Can lead to account removal.
- Delete friend/follower: Removes the account from your friends/followers list.
Taking these steps helps clean up your account by removing bot accounts. It also flags the account to the platform to potentially shut it down entirely.
Use a Spam Filter
Some social media platforms have built-in spam filters that send friend requests from potential bots to a separate filtered inbox:
- Facebook – Message Requests: When enabled, friend requests go here first so you can review and accept or decline.
- Instagram – Message Requests: People you don’t follow must go here before they can message you.
- Twitter – Requested Tweets: New follower requests are sent here for approval first before they can see your tweets.
Reviewing these filtered inboxes for spam lets you deal with bots without them ever reaching your main inbox. Just be sure to regularly check for any valid requests.
Use Third-Party Social Media Tools
Some third-party apps and browser extensions are designed to enhance social media security and privacy:
| Tool | What it Does |
|---|---|
| Social Insider | Identifies fake and bot accounts across social platforms |
| FBS Antispam | Pre-screens Facebook friend requests for potential bots |
| ClearViewer | Filters Direct Messages on Instagram and Twitter |
These tools provide an extra layer of protection by flagging or filtering out bot accounts automatically based on their algorithms.
Adjust Your Online Behavior
Part of reducing spam bots is being mindful of your own social media habits:
- Be cautious following trending hashtags or posts. Bots target these to spam people.
- Interact thoughtfully. Liking, commenting, contacting lots of accounts tends to attract more bots.
- Avoid posting your social media handles all over the internet. This spreads your profile to more bots.
- Don’t buy fake followers or inflate your audience with bots. This attracts more spam to your account.
Being more intentional about how much you share and interact cuts down on the avenues bots can use to reach you.
Turn On Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication adds another layer of security to your social media accounts. After entering your password, a code is sent to your phone to confirm logins. This prevents spam bots from easily accessing your account even if they guess passwords.
Enable two-factor in Settings for:
The extra login step keeps bots out and your account more secure across social platforms.
Conclusion
Spam bots can be annoying and compromise your account safety. Prevent them by being cautious with unknown accounts, using privacy settings, reporting bots, and filtering messages. Be thoughtful about your online habits and beef up security to protect your profile. With vigilance and the right tools, you can stop bot friend requests and enjoy social media on your terms.