Study claims almost half of the PS5 disc backlash came from fake accounts

[Turbo Hollow]

A study claims that almost half the online backlash against Sony's plan to end physical PlayStation games came from fake accounts. Push Square's Sammy Barker reports on the research by Cyabra, a company that analyses social media manipulation. It looked at replies to official PlayStation channels during the August blackout boycott

Cyabra says almost half of those replies were inauthentic. It found nearly 1,000 fake profiles posting automated content, which together drew more than a million views and more than 100,000 shares. It also found that misspelled versions of hashtags such as NoDiskNoBuy were almost 90 percent amplified by bots

The study also has a more balanced side. Cyabra says the most engaging posts came from real users, and that 28 percent of key posts came from accounts with fewer than 5,000 followers. In other words, ordinary fans drove the most influential conversation, even if bots added a lot of noise

Barker stresses that this does not mean fans are not unhappy. It only means bots amplified much of the online noise. The study was published in September and only gained attention in October, and it gives little detail on its methods or on what normal bot levels look like

Bot activity is a problem across social media, and it can make any debate look bigger or angrier than it is. But the concerns about disc free consoles, such as ownership and preservation, are real. The two things can both be true at once

Do you trust studies like this about bot activity? And does it change how you see the disc debate?

Study Finds Almost Half Of Ps5 Disc Backlash Came From Fake Accountswww.pushsquare.com

[Freya]

Sony might use this to dismiss criticism. That would be a mistake. Ownership worries are real, whoever is posting about them. Listening to real concerns would serve Sony better