Supporters of Britney Spears are accusing Justin Timberlake of using bots on social media to defend his reputation. But is it actually true?
A fan account on X known as Britney Stan shared screenshots on Wednesday purporting to show multiple users using the exact same text to defend Timberlake.
“It appears like Justin Timberlake is using bots to defend himself on Twitter,” the account wrote.
As parts of her soon-to-be-released memoir The Woman in Me make their way online, fans of the pop star have taken aim at Timberlake after Spears wrote that she had an abortion during their time together.
Spears, who dated Timberlake from 1999 to 2002, said that the news of the pregnancy took her by surprise but in no way felt like a tragedy. But Timberlake, according to Spears, “didn’t want to be a father.”
“If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it,” Spears wrote of the abortion. “And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”
Although Timberlake has declined to comment on the book, Spears’ fans are convinced that the identical remarks in defense of him are clear evidence of his involvement.
“Two consenting adults made a joint decision what was best for them at that period in their lives, I see no issue,” the accounts all said.
The post from Britney Stan was all the evidence the pop star’s fans needed to take aim at Timberlake.
“Devil works hard but JT’s lawyers and PR team work harder,” one user joked.
“This is so embarrassing lmao,” another added.
But analysis by the Daily Dot shows that at the time of publication, only nine accounts on X made the remark since Oct. 17. Of those nine, two appeared to be in jest.
Some users in the comments argued that the remark was nothing more than a copypasta, a block of text that is purposely copied and spread across social media as a joke.
The Daily Dot reached out to one such commenter, a self-described “Full Time Troll,” to inquire about their use of the text. The user, operating under the handle @TrollingDoe, said over DM they copied the commentary after finding it humorous.
“I copypasta’d it. Seemed funny,” @TrollingDoe said.
The first use of the comment appears to have originated from the account @drinkuaway, a user who features Timberlake in their profile picture.
In a statement to the Daily Dot, @drinkuaway said that a handful of other Timberlake supporters merely copied his post and denied being part of any bot campaign.
“There’s no bot campaign I assure you! The issue is Britney’s fanbase is 10x the size of Justin’s on social media, they’re twisting narratives to make things worse for Justin,” @drinkuaway said.
Real X users who have shared copypasta in the past have also been accused of being bots. In 2021, anti-lockdown advocates similarly argued that the spread of pro-lockdown posts was evidence of a bot campaign. An investigation by the Daily Dot as well as remarks from X, then known as Twitter, confirmed that the comments were in fact copypasta.
Either way, no evidence whatsoever points to Timberlake’s involvement in the recent comments.
