Poll Reveals Over 50% of Twitter Users are Fake
(BTW: This headline is satire, for those who’ve read this far 
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Seriously though, when it comes to Twitter bots, did you know?
- A 2017 study by the Pew Research Center estimated about two-thirds (or, 66%) of tweeted links are not posted by people but by automated “bots”.
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Almost half (49.3%) of Joe Biden’s 22.2 million Twitter followers are fake: They’re either unreachable, inactive, or only posted propaganda (ie: no original content), according to analysis performed by the audience research firm SparkToro.
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Before President Donald J. Trump was banned by Twitter in 2022 an analysis showed 42.4% of Trump’s Twitter followers were fake (they were unreachable, inactive, or only posted propaganda).
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During the 2016 Presidential Elections Russia deliberately used Twitter to create 3,836 Twitter accounts in a disinformation campaign which posted nearly 10 million tweets to 6.4 million followers, and followed 3.2 million Twitter accounts. Russia’s primary goal was to create conflict and divide Americans against each other, not to support any specific candidate or cause.
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In November 2022 China deliberately used bots to flood Twitter with tweets which appeared to comment on protests against COVID lockdowns in China but actually redirected readers to websites advertising escort, adult, or betting services.: These spam tweets made it nearly impossible to find legitimate information on the protests.
- There’s an entire industry built around internet bots, with plenty of websites advertising companies who provide bots, which companies are the best, the best bots to use, and even how to write your own bot. Some bots are good, such as bots who index the internet, monitor web activity, or help with online transactions, while some bots are bad, such as those used to send out spam, deny access to a website, steal content, or infect a site. I won’t provide any links here, but the information is easy to find.
| Handy Tip! | If you’re a Twitter user you can find out how many of your followers are fake by clicking here. |
Thanks for Reading! (BTW: “Vox populi” is Latin for “the voice of the people” )
