In the wake of Elon Musk acquiring Twitter and rebranding it as X, Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, has expressed his vexation about the persistent issue of bot accounts on the social media platform. Zhao, commonly known as CZ, is a leading figure in the crypto realm and the former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
“I believe X must eliminate all bot accounts. I only wish to engage with real people on this platform,” CZ posted on X, tagging Musk. He further stated, “If someone uses Grok/GPT/DeepSeek to generate tweets and pastes them here, that’s okay. But API posting should be prohibited.”
As a public forum, X is hugely popular among those involved or invested in cryptocurrency. CZ, who boasts nearly 10 million followers on X, also remarked, “AI agents are useful in booking hotels, purchasing tickets, or coding. I don’t desire to ‘socialize’ with them,” responding to a comment on his original post.
Although bots are frequently used in the crypto sphere and social media platforms, largely for different reasons, some initiatives, like Sam Altman’s World project, envision a future web3 version of the internet where users can more easily determine when they interact with actual humans. World offers cryptocurrency and a World ID to those who can prove their human identity after joining its network.
In 2022, while in the process of acquiring Twitter, Musk expressed concern that fake users constituted between 20% to 90% of all accounts on the platform, according to Bloomberg. He even considered withdrawing from the acquisition due to the bot issue. However, Musk completed the purchase and has since introduced measures like premium accounts to combat bot accounts, yet they remain widespread.
This is not the first time CZ has voiced concerns about X’s account management. Last year, he urged the platform to more effectively manage fake accounts impersonating him. “Be cautious of counterfeit ‘cz’ accounts. I exclusively use this @cz_binance X account. All other ‘cz_’ accounts are fraudulent, imposters, or scammers. Please report them. I hope X improves its efforts in removing these fake accounts,” he said.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that provides news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block maintains its independence to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. This article is meant for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
