With regard to fake accounts and bot activity on its own platform, Twitter has embellished numbers in its balance sheets in order to boost sales. This behavior would mislead consumers and potential business partners. With this criticism , Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced a comprehensive investigation into the microblogging service. He now has until June 27th to respond to the allegations.

“Could be 20 percent or more”

“Twitter has had to listen to a lot of criticism in recent weeks because they have claimed in their financial statements that less than five percent of all users on their site are bots,” explains Paxton in a press release. According to the lawyer, the company deliberately set this value far too low. “In reality, that could be 20 percent or more. “That’s a huge difference,” emphasizes the politician.

In order to uncover the truth, Paxton initiated a civil investigation into the online social media. This is intended to clarify whether its internal reporting practices are “false, misleading and fraudulent” within the meaning of applicable Texas law. “Twitter must now provide documents that show how user data is calculated and how this is related to its own advertising business. There is still time for this until June 27th,” said the Attorney General.

Musk wants to lower the takeover price

It is no coincidence for observers that the Republican politician now wants to examine the company reports on suspected bot activities on the microblogging service. Coincidentally, on the same day that Paxton announced his investigation, the designated new Twitter boss Elon Musk , who wants to take over the portal, also publicly criticized the handling of fake accounts. He even hinted at abandoning the deal if the site operators didn't provide more details about spam and bots. Analysts also see this as a tactical game by the US billionaire to drive down the takeover price.

Source: pte


If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:

📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.

Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!

* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!


Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )