(cont'd from yesterday's post)
In the Twitter context, bots are fake accounts in that they don't represent a real person. But their messages may be automated to appear as if they come from a real person.
Why would real people of real companies or organizations create them? For multiple purposes.
They can generate messages that make a cause look like it is more supported (by real people) than it really is, thus swaying public opinion about the cause. They can also be used as a vehicle for advertising or to lure real people into a scam.
People don't like being deceived, but will overlook it if they believe that fake accounts make up a very small percentage of message traffic. Twitter claims that only about 5% of their traffic is bots. But Elon Musk claims it might be much higher, say 20%. The higher it really is, the lower real people may value the social media company.
Advertising companies who purchase Twitter ads also do not like being deceived. If they are being deceived about the size of their real-people-audience, they will want to pay less.
Both of these factors stand to reduce the true value of the company if bots are way more numerous than is disclosed. That's why Elon questions the number of bots, and why this issue is relevant in fighting his original high bid.
from Finance at Yahoo
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