SparkToro, a software company that roots out fake “bot” accounts known as “spambots” from social media companies found that nearly half of Joe Biden’s 22.2 million Twitter followers are not real humans, Newsweek reported this week.

The audit conducted by SparkToro’s tool found that Biden, who reportedly received 81 million votes during the 2020 presidential election, has more fake followers than most accounts on Twitter — accounting for more than 49% of those following the official @POTUS account on the site.

The software company based their audit findings on an analysis of “location issues, default profile images, date of creation, and more,” reports state. If true, it would mean that Biden’s support on the big tech platform is artificially inflated. It may also mean more bumps in the road for Twitter, as billionaire Elon Musk continues to criticize the company for the presence of fake spambot accounts on the platform.

‘FAKE NEWS!’ A tool created by the software company SparkToro found that almost half of President Joe Biden’s 22.2 million Twitter followers were “spam bots.” https://t.co/APE7ttIyWj pic.twitter.com/GTn4mpnpwg

— Newsmax (@newsmax) May 17, 2022

Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk was unimpressed with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s lengthy explanation for how the big tech platform fights spam, with the South African billionaire responding with an unflattering emoji and a probing question about Twitter’s advertising practices.

Musk had previously expressed doubt in the company’s claim that only 5% of its users are bots and put his acquisition of the company on hold.

After Agrawal issued a 13-tweet thread about how his platform fights spam, Musk responded with a poop emoji, and would later comment “interesting” under a Twitter poll showing a majority of users believe Agrawal’s tweets about spam bots to be untruthful.

“We suspend over half a million spam accounts every day, usually before any of you even see them on Twitter. We also lock millions of accounts each week that we suspect may be spam, if they can’t pass human verification challenges (captchas, phone verification, etc),” Agrawal wrote.

“Unfortunately, we don’t believe that this specific estimation can be performed externally,” wrote Agrawal. “Externally, it’s not even possible to know which accounts are counted as” real users “on any given day.”

“So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money?” Musk tweeted, “This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter.”

“20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher,” Musk said.

“My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate,” he continued. “Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5% (spam accounts). This deal cannot move forward until he does.”

The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly pausing the Disinformation Governance Board three weeks after its creation was challenged by Republicans.

The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz reports that the DHS decided to shut down the board on Monday and that its leader Nina Jankowicz had drafted a resignation letter in response to their decision.

The DHS has offered Jankowicz the chance to stay in the department, defending her in a statement to the Washington Post.

The Biden Administration is now trying to paint Jankowicz as a victim after journalists questioned her role citing a host of questionable positions on freedom of speech and government censorship as well as cringeworthy Tik-Tok videos.

“Nina Jankowicz has been subjected to unjustified and vile personal attacks and physical threats,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

“These smears leveled by bad-faith, right-wing actors against a deeply qualified expert and against efforts to better combat human smuggling and domestic terrorism are disgusting,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Jankowicz was told by DHS officials to stay silent about her role in the department after she tried to defend a statement she made on Twitter about Hunter Biden.

For those who believe this tweet is a key to all my views, it is simply a direct quote from both candidates during the final presidential debate. If you look at my timeline, you will see I was livetweeting that evening. https://t.co/nI7ZgBtTLC https://t.co/4DjBl9bzt0

— Nina Jankowicz 🇺🇺🇸 (@wiczipedia) April 27, 2022

With Republicans likely to win the majority in one or both houses of Congress next term, Jankowicz would likely be subject to more questions and congressional testimony about her role on the disinformation board.

Behind the scenes, the DHS appeared to concede the fight to save Jankowicz was over but indicated they would look for other ways to combat misinformation.

“We’re going to need another Nina down the road,” a DHS staffer said anonymously to The Washington Post. “And anyone who takes that position is going to be vulnerable to a disinformation campaign or attack.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation announced Wednesday that it has agreed to a deal to pay the players on the U.S. Women’s National Team the same as it pays players on the U.S. Men’s National Team.

The collective bargaining contract will run through 2028 and includes “equalization” of World Cup prize money, according to NPR.

In a historic accomplishment, U.S. Soccer, @USMNT and @USWNT have come together to agree to new collective bargaining agreements that will run through 2028 and achieve true equal pay – including equalization of World Cup prize money.

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) May 18, 2022

The contract comes after several years of efforts by the USWNT to force the federation to deliver equal pay between the two teams. The agreement will also afford women players $22 million in back pay.

“We hope that this Agreement and its historic achievements in not only providing for equal pay but also in improving the training and playing environment for national team players will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women’s soccer both in the United States and abroad,” said USWNT player Becky Sauerbrunn.

The pay scales between the two teams have “identical economic terms,” the federation reports, which includes equal pay for annual salaries and incentives and tournament play, including the two World Cups.

The agreements, which run through 2028, contain:

➖ Equalization of FIFA World Cup prize money

➖ Identical appearance fees and game bonuses

➖ Commercial revenue sharing for the first time ever

CBA Fact Sheet » https://t.co/At6VSKzjiN pic.twitter.com/ugr7zxEu6k

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) May 18, 2022

The teams will also have the same deals in revenue sharing on ticket sales.

“This is a truly historic moment,” U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said after the announcement. “These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world.”

While the agreement is being called “equal pay,” the deal actually heavily favors the women. Women’s soccer has far fewer fans, both watching on TV and going to stadiums.

The 2019 Women’s World Cup, for instance, reached a record high of 1.12 billion viewers across the world. That may sound like a lot until you realize that the year before, the Men’s World Cup earned 3.572 billion viewers worldwide and earned $6 billion in profits.

The earning disparity is nothing new, either. For example, the 2010 Men’s World Cup earned $4 billion in revenue. But the Women’s World Cup that year earned only $73 million.

Men’s soccer reaches far more fans and earns far more money from ticket sales and sponsorship. But if women are now being paid the same as the male players, that means the women players reap greater rewards for bringing far less income into the league than their male counterparts.

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