Elon Musk’s X Is a ‘Safe Space’ for Spam Bots, Million-Tweet Analysis Reveals

Fresh research done during the first Republican debate and on August 23 reveals how rampant bots are on X, formerly Twitter, despite multiple claims by owner Elon Musk that he would solve the problem.

The research, performed by scientists at Queensland University of Technology, Australia, shows the opposite is true: Bots are still prevalent and may be getting worse on the platform.

"Basically, X is flooded with platform manipulation, isn't doing enough to moderate content, and has no clear strategy for political disinformation," associate professor and a co-author on the research, Timothy Graham, wrote in a post on social media.

Graham and PhD student Kate FitzGerald analyzed more than a million X and Reddit posts and comments made before, during and after the first Republican Presidential primary debate and former President Donald Trump’s interview on X with Tucker Carlson. Both events occurred on August 23.

They discovered a coordinated network on X of 1,200 accounts that appeared to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election, including the false claim that Trump won the election. The posts received over 3 million impressions on X, the researchers found.

They also uncovered a worrying network of more than 1,300 accounts on X that appear to be coordinating in spreading misinformation, some of which was to do with former President Trump while other posts were posting links to spurious news websites.

The report finds “that X is now a safe space for conspiracy theorists and political disinformation.” Conversely, the researchers found little evidence of coordinated networks of accounts posting similar disinformation on Reddit.

The survey is the latest indication of X’s struggle to rein in spam even under Musk. Beyond the effect of misinformation on users on X themselves, the seeming proliferation in spurious accounts and the platform’s significantly weakened content moderation practices have spooked advertisers, causing them to cut back ad spending on the platform.

Musk has said spending on ads is down 60% in the US. While he has blamed a campaign by the Anti-Defamation League to call out misinformation and hate speech on X for the drop off, former Twitter executives have said that the misinformation and hate speech is the problem, not the organizations that point it out.