Twitter has revealed that it currently removes a million bots every day to protect its platform.
Bots, in this context, are malicious or spammy accounts, fake identities (opens in a new tab) that leave meaningless comments on people's tweets, or are used to promote an account or website.
In some cases, bots are used to distribute ransomware (opens in a new tab) or other forms of malware as well.
Eliminate bots or die trying
The news was confirmed by Twitter executives reported by Reuters, and comes as Elon Musk, the eccentric billionaire and CEO of Tesla/SpaceX/StarLink/Boring Company, calls for more transparency as he looks to complete a potential acquisition.
Musk asked Twitter executives to share more details about the company's claim that it keeps the number of automated bots below 5%. Unless he can prove that bots make up less than 5% of accounts receiving ads on the platform, the $44.000 billion deal could fail, Reuters warns.
However, during the press conference, Twitter executives said spam accounts represented less than 5% of the company's user count, a figure that had been about the same since 2013.
Twitter analyzes the accounts manually, to determine whether or not they have real human users, or if they are managed by programs. It then uses a combination of public and private data to generate reports for its shareholders, telling them about the number of spam bots on the platform, Twitter explained.
The company also said that due to the nature of the data needed to perform such analysis, there is no way for an external auditor to analyze the platform. He did not say what kind of data he will provide to the potential buyer.
At the same time, Musk said that once he acquires the platform, he will work hard to beat spam bots, "or die trying."
Via: Reuters (opens in a new tab)