Expert claims as many as 80% of Twitter accounts are fake. Musk had cited Twitter underestimating bots as reason to cancel deal.
Elon Musk, who filed to cancel his agreement to buy Twitter in July after saying Twitter minimized the number of fake accounts on its platform, reacted to a report from a former CIA and FBI cyber security specialist who said the number of fake accounts on Twitter is far larger than the company admits.
Dan Woods, global head of cyber security provider F5’s intelligence, where he examines bot traffic, estimated that as many as 80% of Twitter accounts are fake.
Musk has cited the vast presence of Twitter bots as a reason for backing out of his purchase of Twitter and asserted that Twitter’s claim that less than 5% of its accounts were fake was false. Musk has also stated Twitter “failed or refused to provide” further information about spam bots.
“Sure sounds higher than 5%!” Musk tweeted in response to Woods’ estimate.