Even if Elon Musk doesn’t take action to restore Twitter to it’s former glory, Truth Social is doomed. I’ve rooted for the platform since the very beginning, so it brings me no pleasure to make the following observations.
Former California Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, who is the CEO of Truth Social, has a personal profile on the site that says he has more than one million followers. On a whim this morning, I decided to take a look through the comment section of one of his “Truths” about twelve hours after it was posted. Almost every comment I saw came from obvious bot accounts.
A look through the comment section of posts from other popular accounts revealed the same prevalence of bots.
Other users of the site that I’ve spoken to have observed the same. Even the most cursory look through any comment section on Truth Social reveals that there is almost zero organic engagement anywhere on the platform. Rather, engagement is almost entirely made up of bots.
The engagement that does exist from users who appear to be real is usually the most inane boomer rube drivel that you can possibly imagine. But that’s another issue.
Who is behind all the bot accounts? I can’t say with any level of certainty, but this is what I can surmise: The likelihood that some portion of the massive number of bots on Truth Social have been funded and coordinated by Truth Social, whether directly or indirectly, is very high.
Some percentage of these bot accounts are aiming to use spam posts to sell fluoride-free toothpaste, gold-plated commemorative coins and various other products. However, there are a great deal more bot accounts on the site which aren’t selling anything, but rather, they are just trying—and not very convincingly—to look like real, active users.
Bot networks cost money and require attentive oversight. The massive number of bot accounts that are not attempting to sell anything can only reasonably be funded by foreign governments, or the behind Truth Social. There probably exists a small amount of the former, and much more of the latter.
I could be mistaken, but it appears that efforts of this kind have never been disclosed to investors or the public.
If this sort of apparent harebrained scheme is in fact taking place, it is a virtual certainty that the SEC, and possibly others, will bring enforcement actions.
About the Author: Jacob Wohl is the Creator of Predator DC and host of The Jacob Wohl Show.