Wittes calls out the trollbots on Twitter:

[Qutzupalotl]

4. Yep. Seems to be true for all social media:

Watch out for over-the-top emotional reactions far out of proportion to the situation, along with gratuitous insults directed to a poster or beloved figure.

Some say the best response is no response, due to Twitter’s “echo effect” — where any response amplifies the offending tweet.

There are tools available to verify your suspicions, as Wittes used, although they are far from perfect. Some do what Wittes did, responding with screen shots, often only to the other real people in the conversation, since tangling with a bot directly only encourages them — and bots sometimes swarm.