In 2018, Rachel Cullen began receiving new followers to her account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. A writer based in northern England, she often used the platform to promote her work, so the uptick didn’t immediately raise alarm bells. “My Twitter presence is significant enough that I initially didn’t quite catch on to what was happening,” she said. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] As the new followers began popping up, she says they appeared to be recently created accounts, some of which did not seem to be genuine.