- 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.
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
— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) May 18, 2022
Or 14 times higher than Twitter’s 5% in my case 🤨
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022
So … [checks calculator] … that would be like 10 times more than 5%
— 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
— James Stephenson (@ICannot_Enough) May 17, 2022
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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.
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.)
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.
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.
Loving this: Elon Musk playing 4D chess with Twitter and exposing them for the fakes they are.