A new report has revealed that digital assets token accounts and crypto celebrities on Twitter have seen an “influx of fake followers”. In April 2022, Elon Musk tweeted that fake accounts are the “single most annoying problem” on Twitter, and one of his top priorities for the social media giant following his $44 billion deal.
Data from dappGambl shows that up to 10% of the followers of crypto coin accounts and influencers on the platform are fake. Shiba Inu (SHIB) has the largest number, with 10.26%, or approximately 80,000 fake accounts. Avalanche (AVAX) and Polygon (MATIC) have 8.14% and 7.58% respectively. It is likely that the popularity of the coins has caused bots to try and artificially increase their followers.
The study also looked at which coins were most loved and most hated on Twitter. Dai (DAI) was the most loved, scoring 9 out of 10, while Ripple (XRP) was regarded as the most hated, scoring 4.1.
Despite Musk’s plans in March to allow only verified accounts access to the platform, 4.76% of his followers are fake, amounting to over 6.7 million accounts out of his total 141.6 million. Fake followers were also high among top crypto influencers, including Samson Mow (@Excellion), with 10%, as well as former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Recently, Musk suspended a popular Twitter bot known as “Explain This Bob”, calling it a scam. This highlights the importance of crypto companies and influencers implementing measures to tackle fake followers.