this may look like a bizarre version of Tetris, but it’s really 1134 Bluesky accounts with default profile imagesSometimes, spam network operators put a significant amount of effort into making sure that their inauthentic creations can pass for real humans, at least at first glance. This, however, is not one of those times.Over the last several days, a script I’ve been running to detect rapid follower growth on Bluesky has repeatedly flagged swarms of accounts with default avatars following various users en masse. These spam accounts belong to a single network, and are more or less identical, other than variations in the color of their Bluesky-provided default avatars.the spam accounts were created in batchesThis spam network consists of at least 1134 Bluesky accounts created in several large batches over the course of January and February 2025. These accounts are extremely bare-bones, with each account using a default profile image and lacking a display name, biography, and banner image. Some of the accounts have reposted or replied to a handful of posts from genuine accounts, while others have never posted. Most of the spam accounts follow a few dozen accounts each.the spam accounts follow a wide variety of usersWho do these spam accounts follow? All 1134 accounts in the network follow the official @bsky.app account, an action likely performed as part of the account creation process. The remainder of the users followed by the network are an eclectic mix, with political accounts, businesses, journalists, gamers, and fake accounts all represented. Some…Spam in the firehose, part III