Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The
Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink,
and I'm your host, Will Walden. If you want uninterrupted
episodes of the Elon Musk podcast, please go to
clubelon.supercast.com to find out how there's a link in the
show notes. Recent findings have revealed
that X, formerly known as Twitter, is grappling with an
unprecedented level of fake traffic right now.
According to a cybersecurity firm, a substantial portion of
the activity on X during the Super Bowl weekend was not
genuine, raising concerns about the integrity of interactions on
the platform. Now the Super Bowl 2024 event
set a new record for viewership, becoming the most watched
televised event in the United States to date.
Now CB s s broadcast of the NFL Championship attracted a massive
audience underscoring the events widespread appeal.
Now X also experienced a surge in activity during the Super
Bowl with a platform reporting over 10 billion impressions and
more than 1 billion video views. This marked the event as one of
the most significant occurrences on the social media site in
terms of user engagement. However, CHEQA Security Company
specializing in the detection of bots and fraudulent users, has
provided data suggesting that a large fraction of the traffic X
directed to an advertiser's websites during the Super Bowl
was not authentic. Company found that 75.85% of
this traffic consisted of fake interactions or bots.
Now, the CEO and the founder of CHEQ expressed his astonishment
at the high percentage of inauthentic traffic, stating
that he had never encountered such a high level of fake
activity in his professional experience.
The situation on X is unique and has not been observed on other
platforms to this extent. Now, the analysis conducted by A
CHEQ was based on 144,000 site visits originating from X over
the Super Bowl weekend. Although the sample represents a
small segment of the total data, it indicates a significant issue
with fake traffic on the platform.
CHEQS methodology involves monitoring the behavior of site
users to identify inauthentic activities such as bots
masquerading as real users. Now this approach helps the
company protect its clients from online advertising fraud.
Now the prevalence of bots NX has become more noticeable to
regular users who report an increase in suspicious
activities such as AI generated responses and spam in their
notifications. This user experience is now
supported by CHEQS data. Now advertisers have also
encountered problems with X's bot issue.
For example, the small business owner observed A discrepancy
between the clicks reported by X's analytics and the actual
traffic to his website is measured by Google Analytics
following a modest advertising campaign.
Now they discuss the common belief that half of all Internet
traffic is actually generated by bots, a figure that is always
found to be exaggerated based on CHEQS findings.
Now the situation with X, however, has surpassed even the
skeptical expectations. The bot problem on X is not only
more severe than on other social media platforms, but also
appears to be worsening. CHEQS data shows that during the
same period, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok
had significantly lower rates of fake traffic.
For instance, Tiktok's fake traffic was just 2.56%.
Facebook's was two point O1 and Instagram had just .73% rate of
inauthentic visits during the Super Bowl and which highlights
the start contract with XS nearly 76%.
Now the issue extends beyond just the Super Bowl period.
CHEQS data for the entire month of January 2024 shows the X had
the highest percentage of fake traffic among the platforms
analyzed, with 31.82% of visits being inauthentic.
Now, this ongoing problem with bots impacts not only XS user
experience, but also its relationship with the
advertisers who rely on genuine user engagement.
For the campaigns, the inflated traffic figures could lead to
advertisers paying for non existent interactions, and the
situation has evolved significantly since Elon Musk's
acquisition of the platform. Changes under Musk's leadership,
such as the rebranding to X and modifications to the
verification system, have coincided with an increase in
fake traffic. The platform's approach to
handling bots and fake accounts has also shifted, but
significant reductions in staff responsible for trust and
safety. These changes have raised
questions about X's capabilities to manage inauthentic activity
effectively. Now X's struggle with
maintaining advertiser confidence has been compounded
by issues related to content moderation in the platform
public image. Efforts to address these
concerns, such as the planned opening of a trust and Safety
center, are under way, but the effectiveness of these measures
remains to be seen. Now, X is facing a significant
challenge here with the prevalence of bots and fake
traffic on this platform. This issue is not only affecting
user experience but also poses a problem for advertisers who are
relying on genuine engagement. And the data provided by CHEQ
highlights the extent of the problem, which has reached
unprecedented levels under the current ownership the
sensitating urgent and effective solutions to restore trust and
integrity to the platform. Hey, thank you so much for
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