Fake X accounts posting about presidential election are proliferating: New research

by Lauren Irwin - 05/24/24 9:30 AM ET

FILE - Computer monitors and a laptop display the X, formerly known as Twitter, sign-in page, July 24, 2023, in Belgrade, Serbia.E uropean Union authorities are looking into whether Elon Musk’s online platform X breached tough new social media regulations, in the first such investigation since the rules designed to make online content less toxic took effect. European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 the opening of "formal infringement proceedings against X” under the Digital Services Act. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File) — FILE – Computer monitors and a laptop display the X, formerly known as Twitter, sign-in page, July 24, 2023, in Belgrade, Serbia.E uropean Union authorities are looking into whether Elon Musk’s online platform X breached tough new social media regulations, in the first such investigation since the rules designed to make online content less toxic took effect. European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced Monday, Dec. 18, 2023 the opening of “formal infringement proceedings against X” under the Digital Services Act. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

Fake accounts on the social platform X that have been posting about the U.S. presidential election are spreading across the platform, a social media analysis reported by Reuters found.

Analysts from the Israeli tech company Cyabra used a subset of artificial intelligence machine learning to identify fake accounts and shared the results of the report with the news outlet ahead of the report’s release Friday.

The company found that 15 percent of X accounts that praise former President Trump and criticize President Biden on the platform are fake. Seven percent of the accounts that praise Biden and criticize Trump are fake, too.

The study examined posts over two months, beginning March 1. It examined popular hashtags and determined if posts were positive, negative or neutral.

During March and April, newly detected fake accounts increased up to tenfold, the analysis found.

Out of 94,363 Trump supporting profiles, 12,391 of them were found to be inauthentic. Of Biden’s 10,065 supportive accounts, 803 were inauthentic.

The report found that the pro-Trump accounts were pushing two messages, one to “Vote for Trump” and another that “Biden is the worst president the U.S. has ever had.”

Cyabra Vice President Rafi Mendelsohn said there’s a level of coordination in that messaging, which suggests there is a “nefarious objective” and a “whole operation” behind the creation of the accounts.

The accounts supporting Biden were not part of a coordinated campaign, the report said.

While the report did not address where the fake accounts were coming from, the FBI has warned that China, Russia and Iran are among the foreign adversaries that are attempting to influence the 2024 election.

Each adversary has its own approach with interference, but they all aim to sow discord and undermine democracy, an FBI official said earlier this month.

Billionaire Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022, changing the name from Twitter to X and ushering in several changes to the widely used social platform.

Last September, Musk made cuts to X’s election integrity team, which seeks to prevent election interference and manipulation on the platform. The announcement came less than a month after the company said it would expand its safety and elections team to focus on manipulation and inauthentic accounts.

Activist organizations have criticized Musk for the changes made to content moderation on the platform, including the decision to reinstate Trump’s account and changes to hate speech policies.

Updated at 9:51 a.m. EDT