Social media once promised to amplify truth and democratize activism. Today, it’s just as likely amplifying lies—on an industrial scale.
According to cybersecurity experts, state-backed bot farms from various countries around the Globe are flooding platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram with coordinated fake activity. Their goal: manipulate algorithms, sway public opinion, and distort reality.
“Bot networks make ideas look wildly popular—even when they aren’t,” says Ran Farhi, CEO of threat detection platform Xpoz. By using vast “bot farms”—massive racks of smartphones running fake social media accounts—these actors artificially inflate engagement, tricking algorithms into boosting disinformation.
The sophistication is staggering. Unlike traditional bots, today’s bot farms use real devices, spoofed locations, and AI-generated comments to evade detection. “It’s nearly impossible to distinguish between real and fake activity now,” warns Adam Sohn, CEO of threat intelligence firm Narravance.
The consequences are profound. In finance, bot farms pump thinly traded stocks with phony enthusiasm, making millions for manipulators while deceiving retail investors. Adam Wasserman, CFO of Narravance, confirms, “Half of the trading alerts triggered by social media chatter are bot-driven.”
Platforms have been slow—or unwilling—to react. Under Elon Musk, X (formerly Twitter) dismantled much of its anti-misinformation team. Meta is phasing out third-party fact-checking. YouTube rolled back tools meant to counter disinformation. Meanwhile, TikTok quietly removed transparency features, making it harder to trace how content trends.
“The social media algorithms aren’t keeping up,” says Pratik Ratadiya, machine learning lead at Narravance. “In the cat-and-mouse game, the mice are winning.”
From viral protests to stock surges, what trends online is often no accident. As Xpoz chairman Ori Shaashua puts it: “When 418 accounts generate 3 million views in two hours, it’s not real.”
In this era, it’s not just free speech at risk—it’s free thought.
