• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Store
  • ION Awards
  • Podcasts
  • Full Measure
    • Full Measure Cover Stories
  • Donate
  • Bestseller "Slanted"

Sharyl Attkisson

Untouchable Subjects. Fearless, Nonpartisan Reporting.

  • US
  • World
  • Business
  • Health
    • Vaccine, Medical links
    • Omicron Lab Origin
    • Covid-19 Origins
    • Covid-19 Natural Immunity
    • Covid-19 Vaccine Concerns Summary
    • Covid-19 Vaccine: 80 Common Adverse Events
  • The Censored
  • Special Investigations
    • Attkisson v. DOJ
    • Media Mistakes, Biden Era
    • Media Mistakes on Trump
    • Other investigations
      • Benghazi
      • "Collusion v. Trump" TL
      • Election 2020
      • Fake News
      • Fast & Furious
      • Obamacare
      • Obama Surveillance TL
      • Other investigations
      • Ukraine 'Sabotage' of Trump TL

Elon Musk wonders just how many Twitter users are fake. It's a lot.

Dated: May 18, 2022 by Sharyl Attkisson 7 Comments

      

Elon Musk contemplates bots v. real people on Twitter
  • Twitter claims under 5% of its users are fake.
  • Musk estimates the percentage is at least 20% on the low end
  • Musk calls the number of bots on Twitter "as unknowable as the human soul."

The following is a news analysis.

As Elon Musk mulls over his bid to purchase Twitter, he is tweeting publicly about a well known but little-addressed phenomenon: Twitter being widely used by propagandists through fake accounts, accounts managed through 'bots' or without individual human input, and groups of accounts managed by PR firms or others working on behalf of corporate or political interests.

Twitter has proven to be one of the most valuable tools for paid propagandists trying to shape public opinion, promote fringe or minority views as if they are popular; and censor off narrative facts, studies and viewpoints.

I spoke of this in my TedX talk on the subject and documented it in my New York Times bestseller The Smear. I also documented how even the federal government is in on the game, posting requests for contracts for software to build fake social media networks and armies of social media accounts managed by a single "actor" to give the perception that real people were posting information.

Musk apparently wants to know what he's getting for the money and how much of it may be fake.

Recently, a software audit found half of President Joe Biden's followers are fake.

Read the article.

Musk commented on the article on Twitter writing, "Interesting."

He made further comments shown below.

Twitter needs to provide much more clarity as to how they're calculating more than 95% of legit users on the platform https://t.co/L1qnbqyHzg

โ€” Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) May 18, 2022

Or 14 times higher than Twitterโ€™s 5% in my case ๐Ÿคจ

โ€” Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022

So โ€ฆ [checks calculator] โ€ฆ that would be like 10 times more than 5%

โ€” Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022

Here's a recent interview with Musk where he said he's "currently debating the number of bots on Twitter" which he called "as unknowable as the human soul."

Fresh @elonmusk interview, courtesy @theallinpod :https://t.co/WmIbsqxuVY

โ€” James Stephenson (@ICannot_Enough) May 17, 2022

Musk laughs at Twitter's own claim of 5% of fake users

      

About Sharyl Attkisson

Emmy-Award Winning Investigative Journalist, New York Times Best Selling Author, Host of Sinclair's Full Measure

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jack Livingston says

    May 19, 2022 at 11:52 am

    Elon Musk has more business sense in his little finger than these "social media" idiot people will ever have in their brains in their entire lives. Don't try to con someone that is much smarter than you are. The figures for "Brandons" bs are probably way more accurate than what they are attempting to sell Mr. Musk.

    Reply
  2. Riki Tiki Tavi says

    May 19, 2022 at 12:14 pm

    To wit: The man who supports Transhumanism and has a company called "Neuralink" (sharing offices with OpenAI), who says he wants to send 1 million humans to Mars to colonize, is savvy enough to understand virtual-data manipulation. In effect: It takes an AI promoter to understand how AI rolls. "Virtual Reality" ought to be labeled: "smoke & mirrors." Even the NYTimes reported on the realities of Algorithm generated trolls some years ago. Fixing the books is just more of the 'same ol same ol '"fudging the numbers"... We live in a virtual casino. Elon is akin to a riverboat gambler(sans the mustache.)

    Reply
  3. Dee Cee says

    May 26, 2022 at 11:27 am

    To me, this is quite possibly the most shocking thing and most relevant to us today: if so many twitter users are fake, then what does it mean that the news media puts such a keen focus on twitter user reactions to news stories. Did anyone ever notice that major news media started making lots of their stories about what Twitter users are saying? For instance: They report a headline, and then fill the rest of the article with screen grabs from Twitter commentators. This creates a perception that public opinion leans one way or another. If many (or most?) Twitter users are actually fake, then that was all a lie. And it probably DID influence elections. And it probably DID influence public health policy during lockdowns and school shutdowns and masking. How much do you think it influences your local government? I know I show up and testify in person at Assembly Meetings and I see the overwhelming majority of comments being against wasteful spending, covid lockdowns, forced masking, closing schools, etc. And yet the Assembly claim their "research" shows the majority of constituents support these policies, and it's only the crazy radicals who will show up in person.... What a big DAMN LIE... especially if their "research" is scanning twitter comments from fake users.

    Reply
  4. @redrumraider says

    June 3, 2022 at 2:31 pm

    I wonder about all of the people permanently suspended like me. I was suspended 2 weeks after the 2020 election though I hadn't posted for a week before the election. Twitter gave me no reason for my suspension. I have asked twice but they never responded. I just want to delete the account though I had about 15K followers including Sharyl.
    So that account might as well be a bot or fake account as I am not allowed to do anything but read tweets.

    Reply
  5. Elizabeth says

    June 11, 2022 at 4:53 am

    Loving this: Elon Musk playing 4D chess with Twitter and exposing them for the fakes they are.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Coming Soon

Click Here

The Sharyl Attkisson Store

Buy Great, Original Products & Support Independent Journalism

Subscribe

Get the Latest Stories Straight to Your Inbox

SUBSCRIBE TO SHARYL’S RUMBLE CHANNEL


Follow Sharyl Attkisson

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube



Footer

Pages

  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Support
  • Contact

Sitemap

2ndary Pages

  • Full Measure Stations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Newsletter
  • Returns & Refunds Policy

SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS

  • Attkisson v. DOJ/FBI
  • Benghazi
  • Election 2020
  • Fake News
  • Fast & Furious
  • Obamacare

Copyright © 2023 ยท Log in