Turkish minister reveals alarming number of bot accounts on X
Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya (M) is seen in a conference, Istanbul, Türkiye, Sept. 05, 2023. (AA Photo)


Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya has raised concerns about the significant prevalence of bot accounts on the popular social media platform X, shedding light on the issue during a recent evaluation of activity on his own social media account.

Minister Yerlikaya reported that during the week spanning from Aug. 27 to Sept. 3, 26% of accounts responsible for sharing content on platform X were found to be bot accounts operated by computers. In a detailed breakdown of the data, he revealed that a total of 275,762,077 shares were generated from 32,516,432 accounts, with bot accounts comprising more than a quarter of the sharing entities.

Moreover, Yerlikaya highlighted the alarming discovery that 43% of these shares were negative and speculative in nature, indicating potential misuse of the platform for disinformation and other malicious purposes.

Addressing the issue, Yerlikaya stated, "We are acutely aware of the ongoing efforts to manipulate public perception through social media, but the attempts of those utilizing bot accounts will prove futile."

He emphasized the commitment of his ministry to continuing the relentless battle against cybercrime and disinformation, underscoring the importance of safeguarding the integrity of online discourse and public information, and the commitment of Türkiye's efforts to combat such threats.