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X suspends 800m accounts in one year amid ‘massive’ scale of manipulation attempts (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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given unlimited money and resources they built the worlds biggest septic tank and go fishing in it.

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[–] 33 points 8 months ago

I wonder how their advertisers feel knowing this huge chunk of 'users' are bogus - how much ad revenue was wasted on these 800 million accounts? If I were one of those advertisers I'd be asking for a refund.

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    [–] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    I would love to see an independent research team go through all the data from these 800m accounts, and determine which ones were actually state actors, and which were just accounts that Musk personally disagrees with.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

    This is a guess based on reading previous reports on the topic. Its probably majority(90%+) state actors. Individuals may get caught up in the sweep but there is no way they can match the scale of state sponsored botfarms.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    My thinking is similar - that there are an overwhelming majority that are state actors. But, my guess is that in the non-state actor accounts it wouldn't just be some accounts that got "swept up" as a side effect. I would be there would likely be some very noticeable targeting of certain types of accounts (ie, those that have social values that are more left leaning, or those that are trying to promote verifiable information that flies in the face of conservative narratives).

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    • [–] 7 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    So they are going to suspend the 800m accounts that belong to real people, so that no one will be able to stop their manipulation attempts?

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    jup, offend the right accounts. digitally disappear from 'their' site. fun way out. bot accounts probably masquerade as click-bots broadcasting weather reports, spamming slop etc. clicking ads to inflate ad revenue or spread disinfo. crude but effective. the efforts are amazing if they weren't so annoying. think facebook axed my account because i blocked too many bots/ads, for years though. tw showed me the door in a few months. interfering in their schemes

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    • [–] 5 points 8 months ago

    Eight hundred meters accounts

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    [–] 5 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Wait how many account are there is 800m is nothing?

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    • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    Yu mean the 95% that are all scam throwaway accounts?

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