Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is under mounting pressure to step down for misleading potential investors about the amount of human users on the social media website. A recent study by the University of Southern California and the University of Indiana has revealed that up to 15% of Twitter accounts are bot-controlled – that’s nearly 48 million accounts – which is nearly double the 8.5% the company’s estimate, a figure it relayed to potential investors and advertisers.
“Our estimates suggest that between 9% and 15% of active Twitter accounts are bots,” the study reports [PDF]. “Characterizing ties among accounts, we observe that simple bots tend to interact with bots that exhibit more human-like behaviors. Analysis of content flows reveals retweet and mention strategies adopted by bots to interact with different target groups. Using clustering analysis, we characterize several subclasses of accounts, including spammers, self promoters, and accounts that post content from connected applications.”
In response to the study, a Twitter spokesperson told CBS News that “many bot accounts are extremely beneficial, like those that automatically alert people of natural disasters … or from customer service points of view.”
However, the results of the study have impacted Twitter’s efforts to attract advertisers back following an aborted attempt to sell the platform to Disney late last year. Dorsey, a co-founder of the website, returned to Twitter in 2015 as CEO in an effort to save the ailing company. As earnings continue to dwindle, though, Dorsey’s position as Twitter CEO becomes ever-more precarious.
