Mmastodon BusinessMarkets first seen 2 d ago, last 16 h ago, peak #2
GitHub Trending Outage Exposes Suspected Star Manipulation
Original: github.com/trending went HTTP 000 for me, so I rebuilt the digest on the Search API. The rebuild surfaced four 2 KB READ
A developer says GitHub's Trending page failed to load and rebuilt a similar digest using the GitHub Search API instead. The results raised red flags: four repositories containing only a 2 KB README, gaining 100 stars in four seconds, and all referencing the same PowerShell loader URL. Observers see this as evidence of automated star inflation and possible malware distribution gaming GitHub's trending algorithms.
Why now: The apparent outage and the suspicious star patterns it exposed point to ongoing manipulation of GitHub's trending system.
GitHubGitHub TrendingGitHub Search API
Rank over time, top of the chart is #1. 33 snapshots from 2 d ago to 16 h ago.
Evidence
- github.com/trending went HTTP 000 for me, so I rebuilt the digest on the Search API. The rebuild surfaced four 2 KB README-only repos, 100 stars in 4 seconds, and one shared PowerShell loader URL. # ai # python # opensource # stocks # software # coding # development #… · hackaday@www.urbanmind.net · 3
API: https://socialmediatrends-api.osmike.com/v1/trends/1071290