Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk’s war on Twitter IncTWTR bots is shaped by an extraordinary number of spam or autonomous agents that engage with him on the platform.
What Happened: Nearly 70% of Musk's followers on Twitter are spam, fake or inactive, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which cited data from SparkToro LLC, a purveyor of audience-research software.
That compares with 41% for all other accounts that have between 65 million and 120 million followers, according to SparkToro.
The average Twitter user has less than 100 flowers, and fewer than 10% are fake or spam accounts, the study indicated, according to the Journal.
Musk has 96.7 million followers on Twitter, a sizable following, although well behind former U.S. President Barack Obama's 131.7 million followers.
Singer-songwriter Justin Bieber, who has 114.4 million followers, comes at second. Katy Perry and Rihanna are at No. 3 and No. 4, with 108.9 million and 106.15 million followers, respectively, according to Statista data.
See Also: How To Buy Twitter (TWTR) Shares
Why It Matters: Musk’s frequent use of Twitter has made him a lightning pole for handles looking to distribute spam and other suspect content, as per the Journal.
The billionaire entrepreneur, who is pursuing a $44 billion takeover of the microblogging site, has pledged war against Twitter spam and bots.
He has been at loggerheads with Twitter over its estimate that fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users are false or spam accounts.
Musk has said he believes at least 20% of all Twitter accounts are fake and could be as high as 90%, and that Twitter refused to explain how they arrived at their estimate.
The Tesla CEO has said he would not move ahead with the deal unless Twitter comes clean about the figure.
Price Action: On Friday, Twitter shares closed 0.6% higher at $40.14 in the regular session and fell 0.5% in extended trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Read Next: Dogecoin Co-Creator Says 'Delusional' Elon Musk Wants To 'Destroy' Twitter
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