A large portion of the accounts on Twitter aren’t from humans, according to a study from the University of Southern California and Indiana University. The study has found an estimated 4.8 million accounts are bots and the problem of bots is one many users will be familiar with.
It’s not uncommon for users, especially those with larger followings, to receive random likes or follows from accounts that look far from legitimate.
About 9 to 15% of its 319 million active accounts aren’t believed to be real. That’s a bit higher than the 8.5% figure Twitter shared itself in 2014.
Depending on how common more complex bots are, the researchers say it’s possible 15% is only a “conservative estimate.” The report relied on a system that utilized over a thousand features to identify non-human accounts.
