by Jack Dunn
X Bot super-sleuth, MasteroftheTDS has been investigating bot activity on Elon Musk’s X over the last few months. And it may just be that he has forced Elon Musk’s hand to now require ID verification for all new creators to receive payouts.
As we reported in March, he uncovered a thread of tweets suggesting that Disney, or affiliated parties, may be using paid blue check bots or coordinated groups to boost their shows and movies, aimed at manipulating algorithms and boosting visibility. But even worse than that, he may have exposed that Disney may have employed bots or paid humans to engage in a harassment campaign aimed at Gina Carano. Shortly after, in another explosive expose, MasteroftheTDS published an analysis on YouTube on how Warner Brothers and Rocksteady Studios on the face of it artificially boosted the failed and controversial Rocksteady game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League through paid promotions and coordinated social media campaigns on Elon Musk's social media platform.
That wasn’t the end of it yet, as later in March, MasteroftheTDS exposed what appeared to be a coordinated harassment campaign against Gina Carano, probably unleashed by Disney. At the time, he clearly ruffled some feathers in the industry, which led to the de-boosting of his YouTube channel. The evidence shown by him strongly suggested a targeted harassment campaign against Gina Carano, potentially involving automated accounts.
Yet still that wasn’t the end of MasteroftheTDS investigations and uncovering the truth behind bot activity on Elon Musk’s social media platform. He uncovered massive bot activity during the height of the proxy battle at Disney late March, which saw investor Nelson Peltz of the Trian Group pitted against the company and its incumbent leadership, Bob Iger. The bots, apparently aligned with Blackwell’s interests, flooded social media platforms with tweets praising the virtues of Blackwell Capital’s nominees, claiming they were indispensable for Disney’s future success.
In his relentless pursuit of bot activity on Elon Musk’s social media platform, he has uncovered who is behind the bot activity. In his latest expose, MasteroftheTDS exposed a Vietnam-based company known as VNXNet, which uses a special tool to bypass X’s bot detection system in order to falsely verify X users and allow them to receive monetization as quickly as possible and farm X ad money. In short, X users pay for the tool, which allows them to quickly acquire monetization via bots, enabling X revenue sharing. Using these bots, the X user can farm impressions on their post, earning them insane amounts of money.
It may just be a coincidence, but then again, there are no coincidences. A day after MasteroftheTDS exposed the company, VNXNet’s X account was suspended from Elon Musk's social media platform. Not only that but Elon Musk rolled out sweeping changes. All new creators must now verify their ID to receive payouts under the X Ads Revenue Sharing Program, and all existing creators must complete this verification by July 1, 2024.
All indications are that it was MasteroftheTDS’ relentless hunting down and exposure of bot activity that led to Elon Musk introducing the new verification requirements for X Ad Revenue Sharing.
Well done, MasteroftheTDS.
How dare Disney go after the amazing Gina.
I’m sure I’ve read on the MSN that other companies have been using bots to promote their stuff but the exact details elude me