Twitter Bots Explained: Why Twitter Allows Bots, Why Elon Musk Has A Problem and More

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and the company’s potential buyer, Elon Musk, continue to debate over Bot accounts on the platform. Following Musk’s remarks, Twitter CEO Agrawal refuted saying that Bot accounts on Twitter may seem more than the company’s own estimates of 5 percent of its DAU. In a blog post, the company explained that it blocks Bots that: Malicious use of automation to undermine and disrupt the public conversation, like trying to get something to trend Artificial amplification of conversations on Twitter, including through creating multiple or overlapping accounts Generating, soliciting, or purchasing fake engagements Engaging in bulk or aggressive tweeting, engaging, or following Using hashtags in a spammy way, including using unrelated hashtags in a tweet What’s the Purpose of Twitter Bots There’s no simple answer, but if used correctly, Twitter Bots can be helpful. As mentioned earlier, Twitter bots also can be designed for the malicious purposes of platform intimidation and manipulation — like spreading fake news campaigns, spamming, violating others’ privacy, and more.