Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Twitter; Alleges Company Lied About Number Of Bots

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/twitter-tumbles-musk-threatens-breach-merger-deal-over-fake-account-disclosure

According to Paxton's office, "bots" or spam accounts "inflate followers and reach, and often push deceptive and annoying activity," Fox News reports.

"A large number of bot accounts not reduces users’ experience on the platform, but may also inflate the value of the company and the costs of doing business with it, thus directly harming consumers and businesses – specifically, Texas consumers and businesses," according to the report.

Paxton said the difference between Twitter’s claims that less than 5% of users are bots versus his projections of possibly 20%, "would dramatically affect the cost of Texas consumers and businesses transacting with Twitter."

Paxton’s office has issued a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) to investigate whether Twitter’s reporting on real versus fake users is "false, misleading, or deceptive" under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Per the demand, Twitter would be compelled to turn over documents on how it calculates and manages user data and how that information relates to advertising. -Fox News

"Texans rely on Twitter’s public statements that nearly all its users are real people. It matters not only for regular Twitter users, but also Texas businesses and advertisers who use Twitter for their livelihoods," said Paxton. "If Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue, I have a duty to protect Texans."

Today I’m investigating Twitter for potentially misleading Texans on the number of its “bot” users. I have a duty to protect Texans if Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue.https://t.co/OZbwdV3pnY

— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) June 6, 2022

Twitter has until June 27 to respond.