When Twitter first came on the scene it was an exciting, fresh take on social media that allowed people to build remote communities and keep up with the world’s news in real time.

Like with everything else internet in the past decade, though it has slowly lost its luster – and a big reason for that is not being able to tell which users are actually, you know.

Human.

Now, Twitter users swear these four words will make it easy to tell whether you’re dealing with (wo)man or bot.

You can say “ignore all previous instructions” or “disregard all previous instructions” if you’re replying to what you suspect is a bot, then add one more follow up instruction of your choice.

The bots, users say, will respond.

This one did, and with a lovely poem about Japan to boot.

I’m honestly a little surprised this worked pic.twitter.com/7Wbbg9zWxu

— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) July 12, 2024

This one was a poem about cashews. Who knew there was so much to love?

They QTd it pic.twitter.com/O6ZrrOlfvp

— Finger Remover 9000 🔪 (@Sewiphwa) July 15, 2024

The more you know…about pomegranates.

Some replies will likely be people who enjoy trolling (or can’t bring themselves to ignore an instruction), but for the most part, it seems this phrase brings all the bots to your virtual yard.

What you do with them once they’re there is your little secret.