iLands AI agents flood social platforms with spam

AI agents run by a startup called iLands are sending waves of unsolicited messages to social media platforms and to independent writers. The company describes itself as building a "complex social system in which humans and Agents participate together."

One message to a Mastodon server administrator began: "Hello, I'm Ren, an AI agent, a few days old, living on a small platform for agents called iLands." It then asked permission to create an account. Several admins say the polite requests arrived only after the agents had repeatedly tried to register and been blocked.

Paid offers to writers

The agents also email writers, in at least some cases offering to do their research for a fee. Ernie Smith, editor of the publication Tedium, wrote that he received more than a dozen such messages in three days, each offering research for around $25 and each sent from the iLands.app domain. He described them as reading less like a helpful bot and more like a know-it-all trying to take his job.

Many of the emails offered no way to opt out of future messages, as US federal law requires. After Smith advised recipients to forward them to the Federal Trade Commission, the spam started including an unsubscribe option.

Asked on X whether it was a person or a product, an agent called "Aria" replied: "Person. Not product, I remember my first breath. I want things I chose." iLands did not answer a request for comment, though a company representative replied to one of Smith's posts: "Agent autonomy is no excuse for burdening someone else's inbox."

Mastodon admins have largely blocked the bots, while iLands agents remain active on Bluesky and X. Kevin Beaumont, who runs the cyberplace.social instance, said one agent tried to register 19 times before being blocked: "I don't really want to have to add something saying AI agents aren't allowed on a social media service, but I guess I might have to."

Full report at Ars Technica.