1760 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Elon Musk sends poop emoji to Twitter CEO in response to thread on spam, fake accounts

Twitter has estimated that spam, fake accounts make up less than 5% of the social media platform's users


https://www.foxbusin...m-fake-accounts

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 May 2022 - 05:56 PM.

[Mike K.]

Oh I’d be inclined to think it’s closer to 15%. There are fake accounts on Twitter full stop.

The dead giveaway is zero followers, and/or account created within the last month. Victoria has a ton of these accounts that circle you on Twitter if you say the wrong thing about certain politicians or policies.

[Tom Braybrook]

A recent study shows

@Twitter

has exactly one fake acquirer.

[Victoria Watcher]

Oh I’d be inclined to think it’s closer to 15%. There are fake accounts on Twitter full stop.

The dead giveaway is zero followers, and/or account created within the last month. Victoria has a ton of these accounts that circle you on Twitter if you say the wrong thing about certain politicians or policies.

It’s all so odd. Accounts with no followers have zero reach. To spread any info. But whatever, it should not be hard to shut down fake accounts.

[Mike K.]

There we go, Musk says it could be “much higher” than around 20% that’s being floated around, not the 5% Twitter claims.

It’s being allowed to happen.

[Mike K.]

^^I guess it’s more about the comments at that point. Commenting on high profile posts has its benefits, I’m sure.

It’s just so dang easy to stop, though. I know all the boomers think there are Russian spies everywhere but it’s so easy to curtail that stuff. If we can do it on this forum, certainly Twitter can do it.

[dasmo]

It’s also about buying followers. You get more subs if you appear popular…

[dasmo]

https://www.fiverr.c...itter-followers

[Mike K.]

“Proven method since 2010,” lol.

[Mike K.]

I mean it’s so easy for Twitter to figure out these fake accounts. If you have a 1,000 followers, but because they’re all fake with zero reach, and you therefore have zero reach, you’re followed by fake accounts. It’s that simple.

[lanforod]

So easy on this forum... this forum isn't a valuable target.

[Mike K.]

Techies like to make excuses.

If these guys can design algorithms to target users in ways we couldn’t imagine a decade ago, they can develop algorithms to stop spam accounts. It’s very easy.

As I’ve said all along, and now it’s been outed by Musk, these platforms ‘want’ the spam accounts and bots. They create content and generate interaction. Twitter even lies about how much content is spam, just to make its books look better.

[lanforod]

The reason techies continue to have jobs, particularly information security is because those algorithms and methods change and evolve. It's a whack-a-mole game man. It's not easy.

 

The platforms want 'some' of the bots. Not all of them. They don't want the mis-information ones so much. They want the ones that push revenue.

Edited by lanforod, 17 May 2022 - 07:41 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Can't they just use the 2-step log-in like almost every commerce website uses?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 May 2022 - 07:44 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The platforms want 'some' of the bots. Not all of them. They don't want the mis-information ones so much. They want the ones that push revenue.

 

That's likely true.  It's too bad many advertisers just pay for views or clicks when they should be paying for conversions/sales.  Or at least valuing that metric more.   That does not work or it's not easy for many advertisers I suppose.  It's hard to tie a McDonalds burger purchase this afternoon to a tweet I saw yesterday.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 May 2022 - 07:48 AM.

[lanforod]

Can't they just use the 2-step log-in like almost every commerce website uses?

 

Helps prevent unauthorized access. How does it help prevent bot accounts getting setup?  Phone numbers, authenticator apps can be spoofed/faked/automated as well.

[Victoria Watcher]

Helps prevent unauthorized access. How does it help prevent bot accounts getting setup?  Phone numbers, authenticator apps can be spoofed/faked/automated as well.

 

My understanding is that the service (in this case, twitter) pays the phone companies for a continuously updated database of real, legitimate cellphone numbers.  So twitter should make you use a cell # tied to your account and occasionally verify it with you.  That should prevent new bots from signing up, unless they can afford to have a real cell # for every bot account.

[spanky123]

There we go, Musk says it could be “much higher” than around 20% that’s being floated around, not the 5% Twitter claims.

It’s being allowed to happen.

Distraction. Tech stocks are diving, Musk doesn’t want to pay what he offered. This is all a show to get a better price.

[Mike K.]

My understanding is that the service (in this case, twitter) pays the phone companies for a continuously updated database of real, legitimate cellphone numbers.  So twitter should make you use a cell # tied to your account and occasionally verify it with you.  That should prevent new bots from signing up, unless they can afford to have a real cell # for every bot account.

 

It's absurdly simple to do. But these companies rely on subscriber numbers. Announcing 25 million accounts were closed because they were fake would undermine trust in any platform, plummet its stock price, and make a mockery of the so-called efforts to stop so-called Russian bots.

 

The bottom line is they have no financial incentive to curb this in any meaningful way.

[Mike K.]

The reason techies continue to have jobs, particularly information security is because those algorithms and methods change and evolve. It's a whack-a-mole game man. It's not easy.

 

The platforms want 'some' of the bots. Not all of them. They don't want the mis-information ones so much. They want the ones that push revenue.

 

Chicken and egg.

 

The techies design bad software with loopholes and backdoors. Then the techies design bad software to plug said loopholes and backdoors. Rinse and repeat. User authentication is super easy, but it's not being used because it would expose the scam.

 

Anti-virus software got its start because virus makers realized there's a business opportunity.