The case can be made if there were to be a “Mount Rushmore” of social media apps Twitter would be top of the list. The power of this technology is still barely understood and has changed the course of human civilization forever. Twitter’s value was not understated when Elon made a $44 billion offer for the company earlier this year. But as negotiations wore on a major sticking point in the deal was the agreed upon number of bots (profiles not controlled by people by generated by software) that are currently on the site. Obviously each side projected potential percentages that would increase their negotiating leverage but the real take away here is that nobody really knows how many bots there are out there. The deal may fall through because of this.
To try and help bolster his side of the Twitter acquisition, Musk went out of his way to connect with leveraged individuals that could help his cause. After admitting his pullout game is weak on Twitter, Musk attended the annual Sun Valley gathering of all the elites that basically run our country as they see fit. Basically it’s “band camp” for the heaviest bags in the country. From CEO’s, Co-Founders, Authors, TV Executives, Agents and basically those on top of all industries. If you must know the names of those who went you can click here.
While there are many things that are within Elon’s sphere of influence lets take the time to talk about one of the most important ones, Twitter. Forget his new baby mama who just birthed twins on the low. Forget the monkey’s that died during the Neuralink trials. Forget the electric car and Mars, we just want to know what is happening with our beloved Twitter. The time has come to address the bots that ruin the “Town Hall” of the world and this acquisition is the perfect time to address the issue. Here lets discuss the problem and hopeful solutions.
Twitter statistics (likes, retweets, follwers etc.) are all inflated due to the creation of bot farms and fake accounts that plague our beloved app. In July of 2018 Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts and has continued to ban millions more over the years. “Bot farms” are used to manufacture fake Twitter accounts and use these swarms of to try and influence a specific discussion. It has been proven that the Russian Internet Research Agency has used these “bot farms” to create discontent and sow distain amongst users. These Bots are used to push propaganda and outrage as many people as possible, it does not matter if you are on the left or the right. These foreign actors want to create chaos and turn Twitter into a minefield of shit posting and ratioing.
There may be a solution to this problem and we wanted to share what that could be. Try to envision your Twitter profile as a seat in the “Town Hall” of the world that Twitter allows you to use if you follow their rules. What if in order to keep that seat in the proverbial “Town Hall” you had to post a $10 security deposit. The exact dollar amount could be debated but I believe $10 is the sweet spot as being cheap enough for the average person and expensive enough to destroy bot farms. These research agencies that spin bots by the millions would be forced to secure millions in funding in order to maintain even a fraction of the number of bots being used today. What if we took this concept another step forward and Ole Blue Bird made profiles post $100 deposit in order to hold a blue check mark? This would create a verification system that will allow users to identify accounts that have a much higher probability of being real people and not a soulless bot.
It is widely agreed upon that bots are bad for Twitter and the world. The ability of bot farms and research agencies to use digital media to mislead, derail and often completely destroy civil discussion must be eliminated. This is not just an annoyance but a coordinated 21st century psychological attack aiming to bring distrust, disillusion and chaos. Solving this problem will determine whether Twitter will become more successful over time or drive away users with terrible content.
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