What are spam bots?
While sometimes called “bots” or “spam” or “fake accounts,” they all refer to non-authentic accounts that mimic the way people use Twitter. Some spam accounts are automated, but others are operated by humans, making them difficult to detect. Bots can tweet at people, share tweets, follow and be followed by other people, among other things.
Why are spam bots a problem?
Mr. Musk has been expressing concern about spam bots on Twitter for years. In 2020, he appeared at an event for Twitter employees and encouraged the company to do more to prevent and remove spam bots. Since announcing his intention to buy Twitter in April, Mr. Musk has repeatedly tweeted about spam bots on the platform. In May, when Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, tweeted about how the company detects and fights spam bots, Mr Musk responded with an emoji. In a six-paragraph letter on June 6, Mr. Musk’s lawyers demanded more information from Twitter, saying the company is “rejecting Mr. Musk’s requests for data” to reveal the number of fake accounts on its platform. That amounted to a “clear material breach” of the agreement, the lawyers continued, saying it gave Mr Musk the right to terminate the agreement. The next day, Twitter agreed to allow Mr Musk direct access to its “firehose”, the daily stream of millions of tweets flowing through the company’s network. Since going public in 2013, Twitter has estimated that about 5 percent of its accounts are spam bots. On Thursday, the company told reporters that it removes about a million spam bot accounts every day and locks millions more a week until the people behind the accounts can pass anti-spam tests. The company does, however, allow spambot accounts, which it prefers to call automated robots, that perform a service. Twitter encourages many of these accounts to label themselves as bots for the sake of transparency. The company argues that many of these accounts provide a useful service.
How have spam bots been used on Twitter?
Twitter defines good spam bots as automated accounts that “help people find useful, entertaining and relevant information.” For example, @mrstockbot gives users automated responses when they ask for a stock price, and @earthquakebot tweets about any earthquake of magnitude 5.0 or greater around the world as it happens. However, other spam bots are used by governments, companies or bad actors for various malicious purposes. During the 2016 US presidential election, Russia used spam bot accounts to impersonate Americans and try to sow division among American voters. Spam bots involved in scams are often found on Twitter trying to get people to send cryptocurrency or digital currency to online wallets for prizes that don’t exist. Sometimes spam bots are also used to attack celebrities or politicians and create a hostile environment for them online. Kate Conger contributed reporting.
