Eli5: Why is it so hard for social media companies to remove spam and Bot accounts?

Question

Eli5: Why is it so hard for social media companies to remove spam and Bot accounts?

In: 20

Answer 1

In addition to some good technical explanations that I’m sure this thread will get, another reason is that they don’t want to.

Bot accounts are generally good for social media companies (up until the point it becomes too obvious that they’re bots). They make it appear as though the company is more popular, which is perhaps the most important metric of a social media company.

It means celebrities and influencers have more followers. It means advertisers have more reason to pay for ads. It means in general, there is more activity on that particular social network.