Technology
Half of Biden's Twitter followers are 'fake,' report finds
Biden could stand to lose a large number of followers if Twitter actually begins to crackdown on fake accounts
May 19, 2022 9:37am
Updated: May 24, 2022 10:44am
A new report has found that nearly half of President Joe Biden’s 22.3 million Twitter followers are actually fake accounts.
According to an audit conducted by software company SparkToro, 49.3% of the accounts following the president’s Twitter account are fake accounts known as bots.
The report further noted that more than 14 million of Biden’s @POTUS account followers are either fake or insufficiently active – a fact that has raised concerns that the president could stand to lose a large number of followers if Twitter actually begins to crackdown on fake accounts, Newsweek reported.
SparkToro defines fake followers as “accounts that are unreachable and will not see the account’s tweets (either because they’re spam, bots, propaganda, etc. or because they’re no longer active on Twitter).
The news of Biden’s fake followers comes just days after tech billionaire Elon Musk announced that his $44 billion deal with Twitter was on hold over concerns about the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
Musk took to Twitter earlier this week to explain that his original offer was based on “Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate,” and he believes bots could account for 20 percent of the platform “or *much* higher.”
20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022
My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.
Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.
This deal cannot move forward until he does.
"My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate," Musk wrote. "Yesterday, Twitter's CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does."
Although it remains unclear how Musk landed on the 20% figure, pundits have claimed that he could be using the concern over fake accounts to negotiate a better buyout deal.
Recently, Musk stated that a viable Twitter deal for less money is not “out of the question,” Breitbart reported.
