Cybersecurity Expert: 76% of X/Twitter’s Traffic to Advertisers During Super Bowl Came from Bots

A new report from a cybersecurity firm finds that Elon Musk’s X/Twitter is overrun with fake accounts and bots following an analysis of recent traffic during the Super Bowl. According to the research, up to 76 percent of traffic to X/Twitter advertisers during the big game came from fake accounts instead of real people.

Mashable reports that this year’s Super Bowl LVIII shattered viewership records, becoming the most watched broadcast in U.S history according to CBS. X, formerly known as Twitter, boasted over 10 billion impressions and 1 billion video views during the big game. However, cybersecurity firm CHEQ claims that nearly 76 percent of the traffic X sent to advertisers’ websites that weekend was fake.

CHEQ founder Guy Tytunovich stated he has “never seen anything even remotely close to 50 percent, not to mention 76 percent.” The findings are based on an analysis 144,000 visits to advertisers from X/Twitter during Super Bowl weekend. He said the dramatic bot activity seen from X/Twitter during the Super Bowl was unprecedented.

By comparison, other platforms like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram had only single digit percentages of fake traffic going to advertisers that same weekend. TikTok was lowest at just 2.56 percent fake visits out of over 40 million.

X/Twitter’s fake traffic problem extends beyond the Super Bowl too. CHEQ reports nearly 32 percent of 759,000 advertiser visits from Musk’s platform in January were bots. Again, other platforms were significantly lower, with TikTok at 2.8 percent, Facebook at two percent, and Instagram below one percent.

Tytunovich met previously with X/Twitter owner Elon Musk, urging him to address the platform’s bot issues. He stresses that while CHEQ can detect fake users visiting clients’ sites, it cannot determine how many fake accounts are on the platform itself. However, the inauthentic activity is seen consistently across CHEQ’s client base.

X/Twitter’s bot problem has worsened since Musk acquired the platform in October 2022. Last year, fake visits from Twitter during Super Bowl weekend accounted for only 2.81 percent of traffic. Under Musk, X has introduced paid subscription services like X Premium and creator monetization features involving ads that experts say contribute to bot proliferation. Bots can become profitable by posting material that humans (and likely other bots) engage with on the platform. Human users can observe this in action by looking at the replies to a popular post, which are often a jumble of other viral content in an attempt to attract engagement.

Meanwhile, Musk oversaw mass layoffs across X’s workforce, including within the Trust and Safety team that combats platform abuse. Advertisers have fled due to concerns over insufficient content moderation. While X aims to boost trust and safety staff, its current bot epidemic persists.

Tytunovich said advertisers could end up paying X/Twitter for bot traffic instead of real human viewers. He argues Musk must take responsibility, as the platform’s fake user crisis is unlike that seen on other major social platforms.

Read more at Mashable here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.