Elon Musk has big plans for Twitter, and he's not afraid to reveal them in order to sweeten his bid for a $43 billion takeover of the company. His latest plan for Twitter is to defeat the platform spam bots, but only if his bid is successful. Musk stated that he wishes to remove malicious bots from Twitter and authenticate "all real humans," a move he believes will aid in the spread of free speech on the microblogging platform.
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"If our Twitter bid is successful, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!" Musk wrote on Twitter. "And authenticate all real humans," he added in a subsequent tweet.
Bots on Twitter can be both helpful and harmful, depending on how they interact with or interfere with your participation on the platform. Bots have mostly been a source of frustration for Musk. He has previously expressed concerns about crypto bots, which have defrauded many investors. In a recent Ted Talk, he stated that if he had a Dogecoin for every crypto scam he encountered on Twitter, he would have a 100 billion Dogecoin portfolio. I'm not kidding.
Musk wields considerable power, and the creators of these bots are well aware of this. They also know that Musk is a crypto enthusiast, so duping people into falling for scams was simple for them. Musk appears to be fed up with it, and he wants Twitter to get rid of these bots. That makes sense because spam, in any form, is vexing, and when it becomes a conduit for scams, it is preferable to take action to eliminate it. Musk, as a result, wishes to defeat spambots. But it's not going to be easy for him — or for Twitter current owners.
Engagement is everything on Twitter. Its users, as well as bots, are chasing that, but these automated Twitter bots can sometimes outperform actual human users in terms of engagement. Twitter thrives on engagement, so while removing bots is necessary, it is a necessary evil for Twitter.
The company has repeatedly stated its willingness to strengthen its "systematic infrastructure" in order to weed out bad bots. Twitter provided users with a number of features to assist them in determining which bots are good and which are not. However, in Musk's opinion, this is insufficient. The bottom line is that bots are still necessary for the platform because they help the company increase its number of active users, which Musk would probably want if he became the sole owner of Twitter.
Despite Musk expressed interest in eliminating Twitter spambots, he has yet to present a solid plan for doing so. Even if he does devise a strategy and reveal it to his followers, it will be difficult for them to believe him. Musk is powerful, but he is also a troll. At times, he appears to be serious about something, such as joining the Twitter board. At another point, he declares that he is no longer interested in serving on the board. Joining Twitter board of directors is clearly a far more important step than removing spam bots from the platform, and Musk attitude has been anything but consistent.
Given the recent events involving Musk and Twitter, it is difficult to predict whether Musk would actually defeat the spambots. Let us, however, give him the benefit of the doubt. Let us assume that he is serious about eliminating the spambots, and that the only stumbling block is the disagreement over the takeover. Even so, there are numerous issues.
Bots have evolved over time. Bots can do everything from posting real-time information and stories to annoying users and tricking them into scams on Twitter. Twitter has implemented a number of measures to combat the nefarious bots. After studying their behaviour on the platform, it has attempted to purge suspected accounts. It has introduced features such as "good bot" labels to assist users in determining whether a bot is good or not. However, bots' capabilities have grown significantly. Botmakers are aware of several methods for making bots appear legitimate, such as providing them with pictures and bios — a move that allows bots to avoid detection.
It is now more difficult to distinguish between good and bad bots. Unless Musk devises a plan to do so, removing bots will be a difficult task for him.
The privacy of users would be the next challenge. People in some parts of the world find it difficult to access Twitter. They could be from a country where Twitter is prohibited but accessible through advanced technology, such as China, or they could be accessing Twitter from a conflict zone where free speech is non-existent. To hide their identities, these people use Twitter pseudonyms. These pseudonymous profiles frequently have names that sound similar to bots. As a result, an algorithm designed to find bots based on predefined criteria would end up discovering these pseudonymous profiles and eventually removing them.
Musk wants free speech, but it's just a hazy plan with no specifics. His plan to remove spammy bots from the platform is also on track. Musk's intentions may appear to be good, but unless he provides a concrete solution for doing what he intends to do, taking over Twitter and making changes will be difficult.