Eli5: Why is it so hard for social media companies to remove spam and Bot accounts?
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It is important to remember that the volume of traffic on modern websites is so large that tasks like “remove bot accounts” must be done by automated systems.
The thing is, how exactly do you identify what accounts are bots? It might be easy enough for a human to tell but can you specify a series of unambiguous logical rules to flawlessly identify a bot vs. a human? If you start banning real users in error you can cause big problems with your business.
It is a harder task than you might think. You can’t just search for certain words because nothing is really unique to spam. Repeating the same message in several places might be a clue but you are just as likely to catch Aunt Betty posting the same Bible verse to several groups, or trigger on someone’s signature.
Remember that it is also a continual competition between the spammers and the providers. As soon as they find a filter that works the spammers are off finding a way around it. They can add randomized garbage to their posts so it isn’t easily recognized as the same message. They can even just copy parts of other posts to blend in.
They are trying to find a needle in a haystack and the needles are actively hiding.
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