According to an analysis released on Wednesday, over half of President Joe Biden’s 22.3 million Twitter followers are believed to be fraudulent accounts.
According to a report by Newsweek, the software company SparkToro discovered that 49.3 percent of accounts after the official @POTUS Twitter account are “fake followers” or fake accounts known as bots.
The same study also determined that more than 14 million Biden-connected accounts on Twitter are either fraudulent or inactive. As a result of this, users like Biden could lose a significant number of followers if fake Twitter accounts are banned.
According to SparkToro, “fake followers” are “accounts which are unreachable or account’s whose tweets are unseeable (whether they’re spam, bots, or so-called propaganda, etc.) or accounts that have been deleted from Twitter).”
The revelation of Biden’s fraudulent followers follows Elon Musk’s comments about the amount of bots on Twitter, which Tesla founder is currently attempting to acquire.
Elon Musk has since said his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter will be stopped until the amount of bot accounts on the platform is verified by an outside entity.
Elon Musk tweeted that his offer was founded on “Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate,” and he believes bots could make up to 20% of the platform “or much higher.”
While it’s uncertain how Musk arrived at the 20 percent figure, there is speculation that he may be using the problem of fraudulent accounts to improve his buyout offer.
Recently, Musk stated that a fair Twitter agreement for less money is “not out of the question.”
Twitter has been caught censoring conservatives, which has led to many quitting the platform.
Twitter also famously permanently banned President Donald Trump “due to the risk of violence.”
The social media giant also removed over 70,000 QAnon-affiliated accounts in October 2020 and has continued to ban users and groups it deems “misinformation.”
Conservatives have long accused Twitter of censorship, and the company’s move to ban Trump only seems to confirm those suspicions.
As a result, many conservatives are now fleeing to alternative social media platforms like Gettr and Gab.
