Twitter has 48 million bots

san francisco - Twitter has an estimated 48 million bots, accounts that automatically publish messages, Liking or retweet. That is nine to fifteen percent of all users, according to a report from the University of Southern California.

Researchers used a thousand ways to identify bots. They looked inter alia to their 'friends', the content of the tweets and the time between messages. The researchers came up with an estimate of nine to fifteen percent, more than the 8.5 percent held by Twitter itself.

A spokesman for Twitter tells CNBC bots are not necessarily negative. 'Some are even awfully useful, such as accounts that automatically alert for natural disasters.' The researchers acknowledge that some bots have useful functions but also warn about the downside. There are too many malicious bots in circulation, for example, spreading fake news or terrorist propaganda.

Twitter armed itself somewhat against bots last year. Social media introduced a so-called quality filter that can be hidden unwanted messages from fake accounts.