On Friday afternoon, Tony Khan sent out a number of tweets, in which he claimed that many of the online anti-AEW accounts aren’t actually real, but instead an army of bots.
Khan’s first tweet commented on how an ‘independent study’ confirmed that an ‘army of bots’ have been created to spout anti-AEW opinions. While Khan didn’t include any additional details on the ‘independent study’ and who the accounts (may) have been created by, it’s pretty easy to figure it out.
“An independent study has confirmed that much of the staunch anti-AEW online community aren’t real individuals, it’s a staff running thousands of accounts + an army of bots to signal boost them. Look closely, these aren’t real people. Who’d pay for such a *wildly* expensive thing?” Khan stated.
Khan continued by encouraging fans to do their own research on the situation, commenting on how ‘internet detectives thrive’ under these circumstances.
“Research this one yourselves,” Khan wrote. “You internet detectives thrive in these situations. Speaking of wild things: You won’t want to miss @JonMoxley vs. @WheelerYuta on #AEWRampage @ 10pm ET/9pm CT on @tntdrama TONIGHT!”
Khan wrapped up his rant with two further tweets, further speculating on the accounts and how he believes they are bots.
“Their boiler room staff is going to be working overtime on a Friday, and I love it!” Khan tweeted.
“Ever wonder why so much of the activity of these accounts is retweets and replies? Like who actually has 80% of their activity as straight up retweets?”
An independent study has confirmed that much of the staunch anti-AEW online community aren’t real individuals, it’s a staff running thousands of accounts + an army of bots to signal boost them. Look closely, these aren’t real people. Who’d pay for such a *wildly* expensive thing?
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 8, 2022
Research this one yourselves. You internet detectives thrive in these situations.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 8, 2022
Speaking of wild things:
You won’t want to miss@JonMoxley vs. @WheelerYuta on #AEWRampage
@ 10pm ET/9pm CT on @tntdrama TONIGHT!
Their boiler room staff is going to be working overtime on a Friday, and I love it!
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 8, 2022
Ever wonder why so much of the activity of these accounts is retweets and replies? Like who actually has 80% of their activity as straight up retweets?
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 8, 2022
Asking for further clarification, Wrestling Inc reached out to Khan, who provided the following statement
“Waiting for final study but here’s what my expert confirmed,” Khan responded. “It’s people with real live accounts making posts and then using their bots to manipulate the social channel algorithm by backing them up with engagement from a made-up Twitter identity. Social media teams will often fight on this. Bots are great for numbers and when they’re gone, you’ll see a dip in digital conversation impressions – both those were either negative sentiment or not real anyway.
“For example, I tweet Megha only eats rotten bananas. I throw say 18 bots behind it (which takes about 5 minutes to do) Twitter security can’t differentiate when done well (neither can most social teams). The problem becomes, every time people type Megha into the search bar, because of a real account supported by bots- the first suggested result would be tweets about Megha eating rotten bananas. I’m oversimplifying, but that’s the 5 cent version of what’s happening.”
