Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, experienced a major issue with bot traffic during the Super Bowl LVIII. A recent report from cybersecurity firm CHEQ revealed that a staggering 75.85% of the platform’s traffic to advertisers’ websites was identified as fake, indicating an unprecedented level of inauthentic activity.
This revelation has surfaced following X’s announcement touting over 10 billion impressions and 1 billion video views during the Super Bowl, which implied a significant level of engagement on the platform.
However, CHEQ’s data challenges the authenticity of this engagement, as reported by Mashable.
Guy Tytunovich, CEO of CHEQ, expressed his astonishment at the unprecedented volume of fake traffic, highlighting that such a high percentage of inauthentic engagement is unprecedented in the industry.
The issue of fake traffic on X is not limited to the Super Bowl event alone. CHEQ’s analysis of traffic from X throughout January 2024 also demonstrated a notably high rate of fake traffic, with 31.82% of visits being inauthentic.
While the problem of bots and fake users is not new to social media, the scale at which it occurs on X is particularly concerning for advertisers who rely on genuine engagement metrics to assess the effectiveness of their campaigns. Additionally, the comparison with other platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, where the percentage of fake traffic was significantly lower, underscores X’s unique challenge in managing bot activity.
Under Musk’s leadership, X has undergone several changes, including layoffs within the Trust and Safety team, which may have impacted the platform’s ability to effectively combat fake traffic.
The prevalence of bot traffic and advertisers’ increasing apprehensions related to content moderation present substantial challenges to X’s advertising revenue and overall credibility.