United States of America: Announced investigation into Twitter regarding bot account reporting

On 6 June 2022, the Attorney General (AG) of Texas announced the launch of an investigation against Twitter for possible misleading or false reports on the presence of bot account on the platform. The announcement explains that bot accounts are not operated by humans and can be used to manipulate consumers, which can have a direct effect on the cost calculations of both consumers and businesses associated with the platform. The AG thus officially launched a "Civil Investigative Demand" to uncover whether Twitter's claims on the presence of bots on the platform is accurate. Specifically, Twitter has reported that only 5% of their accounts are bot accounts, whereas the AG suggested it could be closer to 20%. The investigation will determine whether Twitter's claims are legally misleading under the "Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act". Twitter was given a deadline until 27 June 2022 to submit its user and advertising data to the AG and respond to the CID.