Police visited an Amsterdam-based game developer after a bot he owned posted what appeared to be a death threat on Twitter.
Jeffry van der Goot took to the microblogging network to update his followers about his encounter with the authorities early on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
I just got visited by the police because of a death threat my Twitter bot made.
— j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
Van der Goot explained that a bot he owned, which was made by a French student developer going by the Twitter nickname of Short Hair as a Serv, took random chunks of Van der Goot's previous posts and put them together to create sentences that may make sense. However, one of the bot's most recent tweets, which was posted under Van der Goot's name, sounded like a death threat.
The randomly-generated words made one. And so they come to me. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
So I had to explain Twitter bots to the police. And I can't really blame them for having to take it seriously. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
@philosoraptress it takes all my tweets I’ve ever made, takes random chunks of it and tries to make new sentences that make sense — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
@philosoraptress I mean, I said the words the tweets was made out of, but not with meaning and in that order — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
To make matters even more complicated, Van der Goot said the tweet was made as a reply to another bot that mentioned a local event that was happening in Amsterdam. So it's a bot-against-bot situation the police were dealing with.
@ben_hr @thiscassgirl @laureningram it was an @-reply to another bot. Which made it even more complicated to explain. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
@ashtonraze @joeparlock it was tweeted at another bot and mentioned an event happening in Amsterdam — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
To be clear people, the bot also mentioned an event. It was a REPLY to another bot, but it was not specifically directed AT that bot. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
Van der Goot said he took down the death threat-brandishing bot as requested by the authorities because they told him he was ultimately responsible for whatever the bot said. After all, the tweets were published under his name and the words used to string together semi-coherent sentences were Van der Goot's.
I'm going to delete my bot for now, because that's what they want. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
But apparently *I'm* responsible for what the bot says, since it's under my name and based on my words.
— j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
Which I think is an interesting legal angle. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
The game developer said he felt "shook up" after having been questioned by the police and declined to provide more details about the questioning, lest he face serious legal repercussions.
But to be honest, I'm also kind of shook up because woah, questioned by the police. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
@alexhern will do, have to calm my nerves a bit first :) — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
Also to be clear, all they wanted is an explanation and for me to delete the account. — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
Also y’all understand why I’m vague about specifics, right? — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
@thiscassgirl @ben_hr @laureningram I'm not sure how specific I'm allowed to be, but difference might also be that I'm not in America?
— j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
The French developer who actually created the bot also said he is "kinda scared" about the police involvement and apologized to Van der Goot about the incident, for which the game developer said he had no fault in.
wow so one of my bots sent out a death threat? I'm very sorry this happened. — Short Hair as a Serv (@Wxcafe) February 11, 2015
@Wxcafe it's not your fault! — j van der wonderlamp (@jvdgoot) February 11, 2015
