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Got hit by 1k Trump bots within an hour after launching a platform

As soon as we launched our app on an online directory, we were overwhelmed by thousands of bots spamming “TRUMP2028,” followed by a DDoS attack.

Our app is a stupid fast 1v1 debate platform judged by AI called Debatable. We built it thinking of dialectic debating, but we were not expecting this. Thanks to AppCheck and Vercel AntiBot Firewall, the platform survived, but hundreds of users and debates had already been created.

It’s a wild first stress test. But how can US survive to this level of debate-contamination?

( 2 comments | 4 points | on HN )
Re:Got hit by 1k Trump bots within an hour after launching a... by bediger4000 on Tuesday September 30, 2025 @08:45AM (#45424744)
This proves that someone has Trumpbots ready to go, ready to spam any such debate platform.

First, what a terrible, small life that someone leads. Second, that someone is very censorious, and the legion of free speech absolutists will be coming for it, I assume.

Re:Got hit by 1k Trump bots within an hour after launching a... by vinserello on Tuesday September 30, 2025 @10:24AM (#45425862)
Our platform is for free, friendly debate. If someone supports Trump, that's fine with us. What's not fine is the horde of automated bots designed to distort debate and perception.