Platform Manipulation Blocks

Use the blocks below to author content for individual report periods.

 

Platform Manipulation

Published on July 28, 2022

01.

Latest Data

02.

Overview

03.

Analysis

 

02

Overview

Platform manipulation refers to the unauthorized use of X to mislead others and/or disrupt their experience by engaging in bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity. This prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to, spam, malicious automation, and fake accounts.

 

This report reflects both the volume of anti-spam challenges issued to X accounts each month, and the number of reports of spam submitted by people on X.

Anti-spam challenges

+2%

Increase in global anti-spam challenges compared to the last reporting period.

Spam reports

+6%

Increase in global spam reports compared to the last reporting period.

Anti-spam challenges

+2%

Increase in global anti-spam challenges compared to the last reporting period.

Spam reports

+6%

Increase in global spam reports compared to the last reporting period.
 

03.

Analysis

Big picture

Platform manipulation and spam can include the following behaviors:

 

  • Commercial spam — Persistent, often automated content which puts uninvited information in front of you. The spammer tries to get you to do something you wouldn’t otherwise do, such as click a link, buy something, or give up personal information.

 

  • Artificial amplification — Actions to make an account or concept seem more popular or controversial than it actually is, through inauthentic engagements (e.g. followers, mentions, Likes, or reposts).

 

  • Coordinated activity — Efforts to artificially influence conversations through the use of multiple and/or fake accounts.

 

  • Combination of any of the above — Spammers may attempt to take advantage of a popular topic in order to sell something, or ideologically-motivated actors may use spammy amplification tactics to attempt to reach more people.

 

For more information about how we define these behaviors, please see our Platform Manipulation and Spam policy.

 
Anti-spam challenges

One way we fight manipulation and spam at scale is to use anti-spam challenges to confirm whether an authentic account holder is in control of accounts engaged in suspicious activity. For example, we may require the account holder to verify a phone number or email address, or to complete a CAPTCHA test. These challenges are simple for authentic account owners to solve, but difficult (or costly) for spammers to complete. Accounts which fail to complete a challenge within a specified period of time may be suspended.

 

These anti-spam challenges increased by approximately 2% compared to the previous reporting period. This nominal increase is related to ongoing efforts to disrupt spam attacks on our platform.

 
Spam reports 

During the second half of 2021, we observed an approximately 6% increase in the number of spam reports from the previous reporting period. 

 

World events can cause spam reports to fluctuate as users may block and report one another during conversations, and we believe that this increase may be largely correlated with various socio-political events that took place during this time.