In-Depth Analysis

Twitter Bots
& Fight Between
Elon Musk &
Parag Agrawal
Kapil Kathpal
Follow for Daily Current Affairs @ 6:00 AM
on Studyniti Youtube Channel
twitter bots?
Context:

● Elon Musk says his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter is temporarily on hold because he is

investigating how many of the platform’s users are real and how many are bots.

● It’s possible the world’s richest man didn’t conduct proper due diligence before submitting his offer.

Or perhaps he’s having second thoughts about buying Twitter and looking for an excuse to back

out.
Conversation between Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal

● Agrawal said that the platform suspends more than a half-million seemingly bogus

accounts daily, usually before they are even seen, and locks millions more weekly that

fail checks to make sure that the platform is controlled by humans and not by

software.

● He added that the company's internal measures show that fewer than five percent

of accounts active on any given day at Twitter are spam, but that analysis can't be

replicated externally due to the need to keep user data private.

● Musk's contention is that the deal to buy Twitter can't "move forward" unless the

company shows public proof that less than 5% of the accounts on the social

media platform are fake or spam bots.

● This follows Musk's earlier tweet that the deal was on hold pending more bot details,

after which Twitter shares plunged(down) nearly 10% .

● Musk also asked how advertisers would know what they’re getting for the investment they make in Twitter. “This is

fundamental to the financial health of Twitter,” Musk said.

● Musk, who has earlier said that bots plague Twitter and that he would make getting rid of them a priority if he

owned the platform.

● Agrawal says that the process used to estimate how many accounts are bots has been shared with Musk.

● Musk claimed over the weekend, without providing evidence, that bots actually account for anywhere between 20%

and 90% of Twitter users.

● However, Musk waived his right to perform due diligence on Twitter before signing the deal, (as outlined in

Twitter’s SEC filing detailing the run-up to the acquisition that was filed Tuesday morning.)

● Musk is also not learning about bots on Twitter for the first time. Musk talked about solving the bot issue as a reason he

was buying Twitter in the news release announcing the deal.

So what exactly Twitter Bots are and what they do or can do?

● Bots are automated accounts, also known as zombies, that imitates how people use the blogging service.

○ This fake account can sends out automated posts on Twitter.

○ They can tweet at other accounts, can retweet user tweets and can follow others,

● “At its heart, a bot is a piece of code that mimics human interaction online,"

● Most Twitter Bots simply send out tweets at regular intervals or set time periods, usually responding to instances

of specific words or phrases in user messages.

● Sometimes the malacious bots are triggered by a word that an actual person uses in a tweet, which

prompts the bot to send an automated response.

● Other troll accounts are set up to attack specific people, like bots that targeted Harry and Meghan, Duke and

Duchess of Sussex (source: according to Bot Sentinel)

● Spam accounts are another type of bot, which can try to sell people things or scam them, Some crypto

bots will try to convince people to send cryptocurrency to an online wallet in exchange for a bigger prize,

which, of course, doesn't exist.

● More sophisticated Twitter Bots perform tasks, like mining and analyzing tweets in real time. (if you accept

or follow request from these bots they might gain access to your profile and mine your data and

behaviour online)

● Twitter bots are programmed to perform certain predefined and set tasks that resemble those of normal

Twitter users. These include

○ Liking tweets and following other users.

○ Their very purpose is to tweet and retweet content for specific goals/purpose/agenda on a large

scale.

○ The aim of this bot activity can be helpful or harmful, depending on the nature of the bot.
So what exactly Twitter Bots are and what they do or can do?

● Some bots on various websites can engage in dialogue with you to provide services but this twitter bots are typically not

for engaging in authentic dialogue with people. Instead, they're on Twitter to achieve a goal, which can be either

beneficial or malicious.

● "Everything comes down to the incentive,"

a. The first one is always financial,

b. The second one is stealing information, the scraping of profile information.

c. The third is typically influence, and we see that more prominently on social platforms.
So what exactly Twitter Bots are and what they do or can do?

● Helpful bots

○ Twitter Bots are also used to broadcast important message like

■ Weather emergencies in real time,

■ sharing informative content en masse, and

■ generating automatic replies.

○ News channels and multi-national companies use a Twitter bot to publish content and headlines. Some

are used for sharing funny or informative content. Further, some people use a Twitter bot to follow accounts,

like their content and drive engagement to their profiles.

● Harmful bots:

○ Twitter bots designed for the malicious purposes are used for

■ intimidation, bully, spreading fake news campaigns,

■ spamming and sock-puppeting.

○ malicious bots can cause a range of problems. Notably, some bots spread misinformation, including on key

topics such as COVID-19 and election, while others troll and harass people.

○ When a simple issue goes viral within no time, it appears as if hundreds of people care about it, but it’s

all just made up.

○ “People have this heuristic where we give more credibility to opinions that look more widely shared, and

this is central deception that bots help and create,”

○ “They lend artificial credibility to whatever opinion or position or agenda that the bot creator wants to

push.”
Botnet: a broad network of Automated accounts

● It usually takes a larger effort than using just one account to achieve some specific goal on the social media.

● Twitter bots are often part of what’s known as a botnet, A broad network of automated accounts that work together to

appear legitimate, liking and following each other as if they were real.

● Worth noting: Bots also operate on other social media platforms like instagram ,facebook and reddit etc
Twitter bot scams

● Twitter bots rely on stealth. (stealth: [adjective] intended not to attract attention )

● As artificial automations, they can pretend to be real people,

○ liking your tweets and content. Or

○ they can act as malicious bots that try

■ to intimidate, bully, persuade, and incite you to believe things that may not be true and act in ways

that are fueled by false information.

○ So next time you see someone comment or reply you on social media network may not be a real human person.
● "Cybercriminals have used Twitter bots to spread malicious content that contains malware to large groups of Twitter

users at the same time. You can help protect yourself against such malware by not clicking on links in tweets and other

communications from unknown or suspicious sources." (As per research company Norton)

● Twitter bots are also said to be used for political propaganda and to influence elections.

● "Countries and interest groups may use Twitter bots to spread discontent or panic. That could potentially affect

healthcare system, financial markets, community actions, and elections," as per Norton.
Characteristics Of Social Media Bots:

● Radio tracking: follow many accounts and has almost no followers back.

● Biographical profile information without basic description.

● They usually do not have tweets or posts, or just post spam messages.

● A high index of the massive following, that is to say, when they follow many accounts in a very short time.

● A high index of publications of repeated links, in other words, Spam publications.

● They have a high blocking rate when a large number of users have blocked or reported it as spam.

● High duplication rate of Avatar. This occurs when an avatar is used in a large number of accounts in addition to that. They

also do not have images in the avatar or use stock photos.

Characteristics Of Social Media Bots:

● The intensity of publication: when they are created for Trending Topics or crisis has a volume of

publication far above average. In addition, they publish the same message or hashtag.

● Mapping Social Networks: an average person has at least two social networks. The Bots only have one.

● They have followers with strange or very remote locations, especially from countries with different

languages.

● Characters replaced: the first letter of the account name is changed by a lowercase “i” or a lowercase “l”.
Who take benefits from social media bots?

It is difficult to know who is hiding behind a social bot. Until today there is not a single method that is absolutely safe to

identify false accounts, so detecting responsible developers is even more difficult. However, we can distinguish four groups

of people who profit from the use of social bots:

● Social media/influencers marketing professionals:

○ small and large companies can use social bots to conduct covert marketing.

○ The influences aim to mark trends and influence them with the help of opinion robots.

○ Likewise, you can also obtain data about the target audience with the bots in social networks and, if the friend

request is accepted, they have access to the profile data.

● Political leaders:

○ it is suspected that pressure groups or political leaders also use social bots.

○ The US secret services presume that behind many false accounts and bots in social networks in the US election

campaign. Russian hackers are hiding, but it is not known if the attack comes from criminals or from the Russian government

itself.

● Other participants interested in the formation of public opinions:

○ There are other participants with intentions to influence the opinions through social bots.

○ These can be individuals, groups, organizations or criminals.

○ This third group, a group of hardly identifiable participants, is the largest of those that occupy us.

○ The people who form them use bots for the benefit of a game or to attract more attention to a topic, or even to cause a fuss.

○ It is also very common to disseminate far-left or far-right content and, since this group is very heterogeneous, it is difficult to

find the common denominator of the users’ intention.

How prevalent are Twitter bots?

● According to Tamer Hassan, CEO of Human Security, estimates that bots account for between 10% and

15% of Twitter's users.

○ Twitter currently has 396.5 million users, that is 39.65 crore. That means around 4 crore accounts are

bots and that is a huge number indeed.

● According to expert That’s hard to say. But a Carnegie Mellon University study showed a surge in bot

activity while the United States has been under stay-at-home orders.(During Covid 19 lockdown)

● The study found almost half of the Twitter accounts calling for America to reopen may be bots.

● The same study looked at more than 200 million tweets since January 2020 that reference the novel

coronavirus. It found that of the top 50 retweeters, 41 — 82 percent — were bots.

● What it tells us that When it comes to Twitter, be careful about believing what appears to be the broad

consensus or engaging in the conversation. It could be a misinformation campaign.

Important Twitter Statistics

● Twitter currently has 396.5 million users

● Twitter brought in $3.72 billion in revenue last year (2020)

● 206 million users access Twitter daily. 75% of them are not based in the US

● Twitter is most popular among users aged 25-34

● Worldwide, men use Twitter more than women

Important Twitter Statistics
How to recognize a Twitter bot?

There are indeed several ways to help detect if a Twitter account is a bot or not. a bot’s setup and activity often appears automated.

● IP correlation — the geographical location of Twitter accounts.

● Time-based correlation — the release of tweets in close proximity. (watch for the time difference between each tweet)

● Automation — when an account tweets short replies that appear automated.

● Content similarity — when the same content is tweeted at the same time.(depend on the duration of the day or throughout

the day)

● Account creation — Twitter bots with recent creation dates.

● Account description — when an account looks automated because its username contains numbers. Also, it appears

anonymous in the absence of a photo, biography, or profile description.

● Account activity — when a bot follows a lot of accounts but does not have many followers, and it’s retweeting and

tweeting content faster than a human could.

In addition to the previous, there are certain tools which can help you spot bot

1. Botometer

Botometer is a tool that can be used to detect a Twitter bot. The Botometer library makes use of a machine-learning set of rules that helps
you to know if a specific tweet is made by means of a bot.

2. BotSight

BotSight is an extension available for Chrome, Firefox, and Brave. Download it and you will certainly get the expert eyes capable of scanning
every tweet. A score in green indicates that the account is real and handled by a person. Likewise, a red score shows that a Twitter bot is
behind all the activities.
What is Twitter doing to combat bots?

Twitter prohibits these activities:

● Automation meant to undermine public conversation.

● The creation of multiple accounts to artificially amplify messages.

● Involvement in fake engagements by generation, solicitation, or purchase.

● Aggressive use of Twitter in the form of tweets, follows, and other engagements.

● Hashtag cramming or using hashtags for spamming purposes.

● The social media platforms suspends millions of bot accounts each month.
What can we do to combat Twitter bots?

● You can find browser plugins that look at indicators to help identify whether or not a Twitter account is

a bot. These third-party tools can help flag suspicious accounts so you won’t be fooled.

● Whether you use a third-party tool or learn to recognize bots yourself, it’s smart to understand how

automated platforms can enable the mass spread of false information.

● Awareness and caution can help. It’s a good idea to watch for red flags and be skeptical about information

contained in tweets. Go to reputable sources for fact-checking.

● Avoid clicking on links in tweets that could be embedded with malware.

Tesla’s falling share prices complicates Musk’s plans

● There are apprehension that if Elon musk buy twitter than it would work aggressively for profit making

sacrificing the social goals at times. Many are doubtful of if the platform will be same and regulations would be

enforced so as to protect the free speech and voices of the common public.(Twitter brought in $3.72 billion in

revenue last year (2020), through advertisement)

● But for now the deal is yet to happen and getting complicated as Musk is finding it difficult to finance the upcoming

overtake of twitter.

○ Musk has said he plans to sell $21 billion worth of his Tesla stock to fund the Twitter purchase.

Tesla’s share price has fallen sharply in recent weeks, meaning that he would have to sell a lot

more shares than he initially wanted to get the cash.

 ○ Tesla’s share price is down 28 percent since the acquisition was announced on April 24. Due to ---

■ The anticipation of Musk’s heavy unloading of his shares,

■ Tesla’s manufacturing turmoil in China, and

■ a broad market selloff all contributed to Tesla’s decline.

● Yet Musk is pointing at Twitter for pausing the deal. He suspects bot accounts make up a bigger portion of Twitter users than the less

than 5 percent claimed by the company. Since Musk said removing bot accounts is a key goal once he owns Twitter, he won’t move

forward until he has definitive information about its user makeup.

● The exact number of bot accounts is something that can only be calculated internally because it

requires the use of private user information, (Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal explained in a series of tweets

on May 16.)

○ He said “We don’t believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally,”

○ without private data such as geolocation and IP addresses,

○ it’s not even possible to know which accounts are counted as daily active users.

● Musk dismissed Agrawal’s arguments by replying with a turd emoji. In a text response later, he suggested

bot information should be at least available to Twitter’s advertisers.

Twitter bots that actually make the internet a better place/ good bots

This twitter bots provide an outlet for creativity, reflection and self-care.

1. @tinycarebot: it posts a gentle note to breath, go outside and do something good for yourself every hour.

2. @EmojiAquarium: provides virtual animal therapy.

3. @tiny_star_field: when you just need a little space.this bot uses unicode to transform tweets into celestial windows, creating a small portal to the

stars from inside your screen.

4. .@I_Find_Planets: bot sets out in search of new planets and sends back signs of life.

5. Thinkpiece Bot: bot perfectly skewers the weird vacuity of clickbait headlines, generating totally (unfortunately) plausible thinkpieces.

6. @deepquestionbot:when you have kind of a crazy question that you’d never actually ask.ibot takes facts and transforming them into tweets that

call common sense into question. In a good way.

7. @softlandscapes: art bot creates sparse, moving landscapes that you can get lost in, a reminder that algorithms are beautiful, too.

8. @pixelsorter: when you need a dose of inspiration. Tweet any image at Pixel Sorter Bot, and see it shift as the bot re-sorts the rows of pixels to

create something entirely new.

9. @grow_slow:Every morning at 10:17, this bot takes a picture of her fiddle-leaf fig plant Over time, you can watch the plant grow and change.

Honestly, this is one of the best uses of Twitter that we can think of.

10. @year_progress:For a helpful reminder that time’s on your side this bot generates a progress bar for the year ahead. Don’t panic. There’s still

plenty of time left in 2018 to accomplish everything you set out to do this year.
Thank- You