Texas AG Ken Paxton announces an investigation into Twitter for potentially misreporting its bot accounts, after Elon Musk's complaints about the alleged issue
BloombergFrancesca Maglione
Context & Ripple Effects
Ken Paxton's bot-account probe lands on a Texas AG office Twitter already knows well: in 2021 the company sued Paxton in federal court, arguing his content-moderation investigation was retaliation for the Trump ban Twitter's suit against the Texas AG. The new investigation is different in kind — it targets Twitter's disclosed bot metrics, the exact number Elon Musk has been publicly attacking as he tries to renegotiate or exit his acquisition.
First-order effects
Twitter now faces a state investigation into the mDAU bot figures it reports to advertisers and the SEC, at the precise moment those figures are the central dispute in Musk's $44 billion acquisition fight — any finding of misreporting hands Musk fresh legal ammunition.
Second-order effects
Musk's public complaints have become a template other actors can invoke: two years later Paxton opened a probe of Media Matters citing being 'troubled' by Musk's claims, showing the bot investigation established a repeatable playbook of state power deployed behind Musk's grievances the Media Matters probe
Third-order effects
If platform-reported engagement and authenticity metrics become a standing target of state attorneys general, disclosure practices around bots and spam turn into a regulatory battleground — a shift later visible when Paxton extended the same investigative apparatus to Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, and Discord over minor-safety claims the 2024 multi-platform investigation. The Zatko whistleblower complaint, with its accusation that Twitter lied to Musk about bots, fed the same disclosure-credibility fight Musk's scheduled Zatko deposition.
The trend: State attorneys general are becoming an enforcement arm in platform disputes, with bot metrics and disclosure accuracy replacing content moderation as the stated grounds for investigations.
Today I'm investigating Twitter for potentially misleading Texans on the number of its “bot” users. I have a duty to protect Texans if Twitter is misrepresenting how many accounts are fake to drive up their revenue. https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/ ...
this is so awesome. your state runs out of electricity every 4 weeks and your cops shot a bunch of toddlers because they were scared but you're going to use your state's resources to help a South African run an equities based Ponzi https://twitter.com/...
a reminder that: • texas attorney general ken paxton is currently under a federal fraud indictment • last month, 19 elementary kids were killed by an ar-15 but “twitter accounts” is what he's investigating https://twitter.com/...
If Twitter has underreported it's number of fake bot accounts these numbers might have negatively impacted Texas consumers and businesses. We need more information — that's why I've launched an investigation to get the answers we need. https://www.foxbusiness.com/ ...
Ken Paxton, who's being investigated by the FBI, won't do a damn thing about assault weapons or corrupt police But he'll spend all his time investigating Twitter bots to suck up to a billionaire Hard to imagine that this is how Texans want him spending their taxpayer resources ht…
Texas Attorney General who is under indictment himself for all kinds of shenanigans does what now? Opens Investigation of Twitter Bots https://www.msn.com/...
Wrote about Ken Paxton's latest Twitter troll as a grim omen of what awaits us when Republicans take power again https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
The corrupt attorney general of Texas is more concerned about protecting Elon Musk and getting rid of bots than he is about protecting school children and ending gun violence. https://twitter.com/...
Might the time of @KenPaxtonTX be better spent looking into, say, law enforcement and other failures in Ulvade after the massacre of 19 children or is intense and sustained sucking up to a rich dude to help him out of a badly struck deal too deliciously enticing to pass up?
Hey tech kids, let's tell Ken all the problems with the Net that irk us and maybe he will do our slavish bidding like we are a billionaire in search of a deal exit too. I'll start: Gmail sent one of my important emails to junk mail. INVESTIGATE! Please add! https://twitter.com/..…
Our dumb country. Maybe, just maybe, it should be all hands on deck trying to solve the situation with children being murdered. https://twitter.com/...
companies can murder people or rip consumers off with reckless abandon, but belatedly and sloppily reining in hate speech and political propaganda is just a bridge too far https://www.foxbusiness.com/ ...