Technologists use social media bots to gain insights into social platforms. Scammers use bots extensively to conduct malicious activities. Bots are able to adapt to different media channels.
A social media bot is essentially a program that uses AI, big data, and other databases to imitate legitimate users on social media by posting content. Nefarious Facebook bots are plentiful today but there are many ways in which you can remove bots from Facebook.
What are Bots?
Bots are often known as spiders, crawlers, and web bots. Essentially, they are programs that automate certain tasks. It means they can run without specific instructions from humans. Usually, bots are used in repetitive jobs because they are quicker and can run 24×7 without tiring out.
But why do we need to remove bots from Facebook?
A chatbot is a common example of a bot. It is a viable alternative to staying connected via pre-programming. Some disadvantages of social media bots include:
- Often, bots are not able to perform an exact task
- Although automated, they need constant management
- Bots can easily be made malicious
- Bots are used in spamming activities
What are Facebook Bots?
Facebook bot, also known as a chatbot, is automated messaging software that uses artificial intelligence to converse with people. Bots have made it easy for Facebook businesses to connect to their targeted audience and customers. Using neurolinguistic programming (NLP), they can understand a user’s question and respond accordingly. These answers could be pre-fed or come from a larger database.
Chatbots are supposed to increase response times and let users experience real-time information.
What Technology Helps Users Get Connected And Stay Secure?
How to block Facebook Bots
Once you have identified the bot on Facebook or Messenger, there are two ways to remove bots on Facebook. Either we can block bots or unsubscribe from them. We show you both ways to block bots.
Block Facebook bots
As Facebook is a widely used application, the settings may vary from device to device. In order to block bots on Facebook, you need to follow these simple steps
- Navigate to Your Facebook Settings.
- In Settings, select Blocking.
- In Blocking type in “fact check”
- Select Bot from the list and hit Block
- Block the bot.
Remove Facebook bots
- Open your Facebook page
- Navigate to your Facebook page’s settings.
- Select the “Advanced Messaging” option.
- Continue down the list until you come across “Connected Apps.”
- Tap on the Connected Apps option.
- Only Octane AI should be linked to Messenger.
- Octane AI should have all the access and permissions
- You can stop accessing all the unnecessary permissions.
How to turn off the chatbot?
Though chatbots save a lot of time and energy for business owners on Facebook, having an active chatbot on Facebook Messenger can create inconvenience for users. Additionally, there is a constant danger of spamming.
If you wish to turn off Facebook Messenger’s chatbot, here is what you can do:
- Navigate to Settings
- Select Hide to remove it from your targets list
- The finished chat option will open
- You click on the + button next to it
Or
- Go to your phone settings
- Navigate to Apps and then messages
- Disable apps that can change system settings
Unsubscribe from a bot
Here are the steps to follow if you would like to unsubscribe from a bot:
- Open the bot and in the bottom right corner select Actions -> Unsubscribe or.
- Click on the (+) next to Bots.
- You will see Subscribed Bots followed by All Bots.
- Under Subscribed Bots, the list of bots that you have subscribed to will appear.
There are Good and Bad bots
Yes, you heard it right. Bots can be classified as benevolent or evil.
Let us have a closer look at different kinds of bots designed to do different tasks
- Search engine bots
These are operated by search engines like Google. These bots review content on almost every site.
- Copyright bots
These are operated by any person or company that owns copyright material. Copyright bots look for content that may violate copyright laws.
- Commercial bots
Commercial bots are operated by commercial companies for market research and reviews
- Feed the bots
These bots crawl the internet. Content or social media sites can operate these.
- Chatbots
The pre-programmed bot imitates human conversation.
- Personal assistant bots
Notably, these bots are much more advanced than typical bots. Alexa and Siri are some good examples of what these bots are like.
Malicious bots are nothing but bots that run automated tasks with malicious intent over the internet. In fact,some bots also engage in criminal activities such as fraud or theft. They enable high-speed abuse, misuse, and attacks on your websites, mobile apps, and APIs.
Removing bots from Facebook is not a difficult shell to crack. A user who blocks bots on Facebook feels more secure and free because he knows his information is not being accessed suspiciously.