Crypto Twitter has a persistent 'fake followers' problem, data reveals

cointelegraph.com:

Despite changes introduced by Twitter management since Elon Musk’s takeover, the issue around fake followers remains a persistent problem. As many as 10% of the followers of accounts belonging to crypto influencers and companies are fake, new data from dappGambl has revealed.

In April 2023, Musk introduced Twitter Blue — an $8 monthly subscription for verification — to increase the platform’s revenue while making it financially inviable for bots and fake accounts to operate. However, months later, dappGambl’s investigation found that up to 10% of followers from the most followed crypto accounts are fake.

When it comes to the official accounts of cryptocurrency tokens and ecosystems, Shiba Inu (SHIB) had the highest number of fake followers at 10.26% or 80,000 accounts, while Avalanche (AVAX) ranked second with 8.14% fake followers, followed by Polygon (MATIC) with 7.58% or 73,000 fake accounts.

dappGambl suspected that the relationship between Twitter accounts and their fake followers is dependent on the popularity of the tokens. By analyzing the social sentiment behind crypto accounts, dappGambl found that:

Generally, the crypto community on Twitter sees DAI as the “future of money” while it tends to associate XRP with scams, states dappGambl.

When it comes to crypto influencers and entrepreneurs, Samson Mow boasts the highest percentage of fake followers among his total following. Mow is currently being followed by 26,000 fake accounts that represent 10% of his total following on Twitter.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has 560,000 (8.62%) fake followers, while El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had nearly 6.5% of fake followers among his total count.

Other prominent figures with