Texas AG Ken Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter to see if they’re lying about the number of bots on the platform.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday announced an investigation against Twitter to determine whether they’re lying about the number of fake bot accounts on the platform.
According to Paxton’s office, “bots” or spam accounts “inflate followers and reach, and often push deceptive and annoying activity,” Fox News reports.
“A large number of bot accounts not reduces users’ experience on the platform, but may also inflate the value of the company and the costs of doing business with it, thus directly harming consumers and businesses – specifically, Texas consumers and businesses,” according to the report.
Here is the release from the Texas AG:
Today I’m investigating Twitter for potentially misleading Texans on the number of its “bot†users. I have a duty to protect Texans if Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue.https://t.co/OZbwdV3pnY
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) June 6, 2022
Today Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation against Twitter for potentially false reporting over its fake bot accounts in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
On Twitter, “bots†are automated, non-human accounts that can do virtually the same things as real people: send tweets, follow other users, and like and retweet others’ posts. Spam accounts like these inflate followers and reach, and often push deceptive and annoying activity. Bot accounts can not only reduce the quality of users’ experience on the platform but may also inflate the value of the company and the costs of doing business with it, thus directly harming Texas consumers and businesses.
Twitter has received intense scrutiny in recent weeks over claiming in its financial regulatory filings that fewer than 5% of all users are bots, when they may in fact comprise as much as 20% or more. The difference could dramatically affect the cost to Texas consumers and businesses who transact with Twitter.
To address this concern, Attorney General Paxton issued a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) to investigate whether Twitter’s reporting on real versus fake users is “false, misleading, or deceptive†under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The CID requires Twitter to turn over documents related to how it calculates and manages its user data and how these numbers relate to Twitter’s advertising businesses. Twitter has until June 27 to respond to Attorney General Paxton’s Demand.
“Texans rely on Twitter’s public statements that nearly all its users are real people. It matters not only for regular Twitter users, but also Texas businesses and advertisers who use Twitter for their livelihoods,†said Attorney General Paxton. “If Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue, I have a duty to protect Texans.â€
Read of copy of the CIDÂ here.Â
Twitter claimed that only 5% of users were bots – an estimate has shown that in reality, 10-15% are.
NEW – Bot Sentinel, a platform that monitors millions of Twitter accounts, estimates that 10-15% of all accounts on Twitter are inauthentic.
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) May 14, 2022
The Palmieri Report is a Pro-America News Outlet. The Palmieri Report is dedicated to giving people the truth so that they can form their own informed political opinions.Â
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