A growing number of accounts on the social media platform X praising or attacking President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are fake, according to an analysis by tech company Cyabra that was shared with Reuters ahead of its release. 

The analysis comes less than six months from the 2024 election, when Biden and Trump are likely to face off in a rematch for the White House. 


What You Need To Know

  • A growing number of accounts on the social media platform X praising or attacking President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are fake, according to an analysis by tech company Cyabra shared with Reuters
  • It comes less than six months from the 2024 election, when Biden and Trump are likely to face off in a rematch for the White House
  • The Israeli company, which reviewed posts on X, formerly Twitter, throughout March and April for the analysis, found the number of newly detected fake accounts rose tenfold over the two-month period
  • The report found that 15% of pro-Trump and anti-Biden were fake while the same was true of 7% of pro-Biden and anti-Trump 

The Israeli company, which reviewed posts on X, formerly Twitter, throughout March and April for the analysis, found the number of newly detected fake accounts rose tenfold over the two-month period. 

Analysts found that 15% of accounts on the platform promoting Trump and denouncing Biden were fake while the same was true for 7% of accounts praising Biden and criticizing Trump. The analysis included looking at popular hashtags and determining whether they were positive, negative or neutral. 

Specifically, the report found 12,391 accounts out of 94,363 promoting Trump were fake. Of the 10,065 accounts lifting up Biden, 803 were inauthentic. 

The tech firm, which identifies fake accounts using machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence, concluded that the pro-Trump accounts this election cycle are part of a coordinated campaign pushing two central messages: “Vote for Trump" and "Biden is the worst president the U.S. has ever had."

Cyabra’s vice president, Rafi Mendelsohn, told Reuters that the findings on the level of coordination between the pro-Trump accounts suggest a “nefarious objective” and a targeted effort to change people’s opinions. 

Analysts looked at accounts that put up posts and comments at the same time as well as identical hashtags to come to its conclusions about the coordination. 

U.S. intelligence officials have warned about the possibility of foreign actors seeking to influence the election, often particularly pointing to Russia, China and Iran. 

A report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released in 2021 found Russia engaged in efforts to help Trump’s reelection prospects in 2020 after similarly working to promote him in 2016. 

Cyabra's analysis did not report where the fake accounts were coming from.