section_path: User accounts/Bot accounts
section_name: Bot accounts
paragraph_text: Bot accounts
  
  A bot is a computer program that can automatically tweet, retweet, and follow other accounts. Twitter's open application programming interface and the availability of cloud servers make it possible for bots to exist within the social networking site. Benign bots may generate creative content and relevant product updates, whereas malicious bots can make unpopular people seem popular, push irrelevant products on users, and spread misinformation, spam or slander. Bots amass significant influence and have been noted to sway elections, influence the stock market, appeal to the public, and attack governments. As of 2013, Twitter said there were 20 million fake accounts on Twitter, representing less than 5% of active users. A 2020 estimate put the figure at 15% of all accounts or around 48 million accounts.