bots

WSJ: Twitter Is Still Swarmed by Bots, Despite Elon Musk’s Claims

Despite Elon Musk’s claims following his takeover of Twitter, the social media platform continues to grapple with the persistent issue of fake and spam accounts, according to recent research. One Princeton professor explains, “It’s clearly the case that bad bots remain pervasive on Twitter.” 

Elon Musk and a Twitter logo are seen in this illustration photo in Warsaw, Poland on 30 N

Former Twitter Employees Claim Polls Are Major Targets for Bots

Elon Musk has made a number of decisions about the Twitter platform via polls posted on his profile, but ex-employees are warning that Twitter polls are a major target for bots and can be easily manipulated. Censor-happy Yoel Roth said, “Polls are more prone to manipulation than almost anything else.” Notably, Roth and the thousands of Twitter employees who have been laid off didn’t see to care much about the massive number of bots on Twitter until after Musk took over.

BERLIN, GERMANY DECEMBER 01: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpe

Report: Bots Make Up 40% of Average Web3 Platform Userbase

A new report reveals that a huge amount of Web3 activity is significantly made of hordes of bots. Web3 is a term for new technologies built on the blockchain that are hyped to be the future of the internet — but most are overwhelmed with bot activity.

A man surfs

Twitter Admits It Verified Fake Accounts – While Banning Conservatives

Twitter has admitted it added its verification checkmark, meant to ensure the public that an account is authentic, to a number of fake accounts run by bots. The platform’s shoddy verifications come after the blacklisting of high profile conservatives such as James O’Keefe, who before his banning was refused verification by the platform despite a constant flow of fake accounts mimicking him to confuse the public.

Twitter Chairman and Square CEO Jack Dorsey moderates a panel discussion with Detroit entr

Wikipedia-linked Dictionary of Madagascar’s National Language Full of Bot-Generated Errors

An audit of the Wikipedia-affiliated dictionary Wiktionary for the Malagasy language, the national language of Madagascar, found the site to be littered with errors. The errors were attributed to bots mostly programmed by the site’s sole active administrator, which mass-produced almost all six million entries included on the Malagasy Wiktionary. Noting the problems were too comprehensive to be resolved manually, the audit recommended deleting most entries on the site.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia

L.A. Times Tweets, then Deletes, Fake Earthquake Report

The Los Angeles Times tweeted a warning Wednesday evening that a massive 6.8-magnitude earthquake had struck the region at Isla Vista, California. A short time late, it retracted and deleted the tweet, explaining that an automated program, or “bot,” had tweeted out the details of an earthquake that had indeed struck Isla Vista — in 1925.

David Moir / Reuters

Report: 48 Million Twitter Accounts Are Bots

A study released last week by the University of Southern California and Indiana University claims that as many as 48 million Twitter accounts are bots. The study used more than 1,000 different features to find and identify bot accounts across Twitter.

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images