Elon Musk's X tightens grip on bot spam, deletes over 1.7 million fake accounts

In a significant move to combat spam, social media platform X has successfully eliminated 1.7 million bot accounts that were inundating replies with irrelevant content. Nikita Bier, the Head of Product, announced this substantial cleanup via a post on X, stating, "This week we purged 1.7 million bots engaging in reply spam. You should start noticing improvements in the coming days. We will be focusing on DM spam next." While the specifics of how these bots were identified and removed remain undisclosed, X has increasingly relied on automation and behavioral analysis tools to flag suspicious accounts. This initiative is one of the largest undertaken since Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform, addressing ongoing concerns regarding the proliferation of spam and fake accounts. In addition to the bot removal, Bier revealed that X plans to experiment with a new strategy for link-sharing and user engagement in the coming week. This update aims to ensure that all content on the platform receives equal visibility on users' timelines. This announcement aligns with Musk's previous suggestions that X might alter how external links are presented to enhance user engagement within the platform. Furthermore, Bier celebrated a notable increase in Android downloads for X, describing the past week as one of the most successful in its history. He shared that the app is undergoing a complete overhaul and is actively seeking talented Android engineers to join the team in Palo Alto. "X had one of the best weeks for Android downloads in our history. We're rebuilding the whole app from scratch—and we're looking for the most talented Android engineers in the world. If you're interested in rebuilding the app with me in Palo Alto, DM me," Bier tweeted.