Jonah Hill's Team Accused of 'Buying Bots' to Support Scandal-Hit Actor

Jonah Hill's team has been accused of "buying bots" to defend him on social media, after his ex-girlfriend Sarah Brady accused him of being "emotionally abusive."

Surf instructor and model Brady, 26, began sharing screenshots on July 7 of text messages that she alleges she exchanged with the 39-year-old actor.

The Superbad star and Brady went public with their relationship in August 2021 and split in 2022.

"This is a warning to all girls. If your partner is talking to you like this, make an exit plan. Call me if you need an ear," Brady captioned one post.

She has shared messages that allegedly show Hill asking her to remove surfing photos that show her "a** in a thong" from her Instagram account.

Hill has yet to publicly address the allegations. Newsweek has contacted a representative of Hill via email for comment.

Brady's allegations have sparked debate on multiple platforms, prompting a number of social media users to point out what they believe is evidence that some of the comments defending Hill are actually generated by bots.

These automated accounts are often used for simple functions such as generating automatic replies via direct messages or sending out warnings of weather emergencies in real time.

Bots have also been mobilized for less benign motives, in malware scams and in campaigns to sway public opinion or spread misinformation. Before buying Twitter, Elon Musk vowed in April 2022 that he and his team would "defeat the spam bots or die trying."

Influencer Estefania Vanegas Pessoa, who is known as Tefi on TikTok and YouTube, recently posted a video suggesting possible bot activity.

"People were telling me, 'Oh my God, it's so crazy how so many people are defending Jonah Hill,' said Pessoa in a TikTok post that has been watched more than 390,000 times. "And I was like, 'I'm not gonna look, I'm not gonna look.' So, I go look."

She pulled up a screenshot of PopCrave's July 8 Twitter post about the allegations, under which sat a pair of identical comments defending Hill.

"Is someone's camp buying bots?" Pessoa asked. "That's crazy. Is it so many people defending him or is it just...? That's crazy, the copy and paste."

The message in question read: "It sounds like he's communicating what works for him in a clear way. He literally said he supports her if that brings her happiness, it's just not for him. I actually see nothing wrong with this."

Another similarly worded tweet was shown below the identical posts in Pessoa's screenshot. One of the two identical posts appears to have since been deleted.

A number of other Twitter users also shared screenshots of the identical posts.

Writer and activist Leah McElrath highlighted another Twitter account that had shared several posts defending Hill.

"Looks like Jonah Hill has hired a reputation management firm to activate inauthentic accounts to try to silence people speaking up for Sarah Brady," McElrath wrote, alongside a pair of screenshots of a Twitter account that she described as "all pro-Jonah Hill and anti-Sarah Brady content."

The account has shared several posts defending other male celebrities who have been accused of misconduct.

Brady has continued to speak out about her relationship with Hill on social media, saying they communicated as friends for months after their split.

Their final message exchange took place on August 31, 2022, she said, after the You People star told her he had started a new romantic relationship. Brady's earliest timestamped posts were dated October 12, 2021.

"It may seem as if I am sharing a lot, but you all have no idea how much more there is which I am choosing not to share out of consideration for him and his family," Brady wrote on Instagram on Monday.

In one post dated December 2, 2021, Hill is alleged to have written to Brady: "If you need: surfing with men, boundaryless inappropriate friendships with men, to model, to post pictures of yourself in a bathing suit, to post sexual pictures, friendships with women who are in unstable places and from your wild recent past beyond getting a lunch or coffee or something respectful, I am not the right partner for you."

"If these things bring you to a place of happiness I support it and there will be no hard feelings," the message continued. "These are my boundaries for romantic partnership. My boundaries with you based on the ways these actions have hurt our trust."

Brady, who lives in Hawaii, said she had timed the release of her allegations with consideration for Hill's partner, Olivia Millar, who recently gave birth to their baby.

"I waited until she had her baby," Brady wrote on Instagram. "So I knew they were like physically not impacted by me sharing this s***, and she could be informed and make an informed decision of how she wants to care for herself and her baby."

In another post, Brady wrote that being an "emotionally abusive partner doesn't mean they're a terrible person." She said such behavior often stems from someone's own trauma. "At the same time, it doesn't mean it's OK."