Twitter has suspended the popular Twitter account of “Explain This Bob,” an artificial intelligence-powered bot linked to a meme coin. The move came after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, accused the account of being a “scam crypto account.” Musk’s tweet on June 18, 2023, read, “This sure looks like a scam crypto account. If so, it will be suspended.”
The “Explain This Bob” account, created by Prabhu Biswal from India, had amassed a significant following of over 400,000 users before its suspension. Biswal reportedly utilized OpenAI’s advanced GPT-4 model to enable the bot to respond to tagged tweets with concise explanations. However, Musk expressed concerns that the account may have been manipulating the prices of the associated meme-coin, known as BOB.
Twitter took action following Musk’s allegations, suspending the “Explain This Bob” account. Reportedly, the account’s team responded to the news of the suspension by sharing a meme featuring Musk overseeing a distressed “Bob” inside a prison. Twitter, on the other hand, has not taken any significant action against the BOB Token account itself.
Musk has been vocal about his commitment to eradicating bots and scam accounts on Twitter and has previously suspended other accounts involved in dubious cryptocurrency activities. The “Explain This Bob” Twitter bot gained prominence in April after Elon Musk responded to a tweet from the account, expressing his appreciation by saying, “I love Bob.” However, Musk’s recent tweet alleging the account was a scam led to its swift suspension from the micro-blogging platform.
The suspension of the “Explain This Bob” account has had a significant impact on the associated meme coin, BOB. Its value plummeted by 30 per cent within the last 24 hours, currently trading at $0.00001942 (roughly Rs. 0.0016) according to CoinMarketCap.
As news of the suspension spread, the hashtag #FreeBob began circulating on Twitter, with users urging Elon Musk to reinstate the suspended Twitter bot. However, there has been no response from Prabhu Biswal, the creator of the “Explain This Bob” account, regarding Twitter’s suspension.
Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion last year came with the promise of revamping the platform and tackling crypto-related scam bot accounts. Cryptocurrency scammers have increasingly targeted Twitter to deceive unsuspecting users, and their activities have escalated in recent times. A report by crypto intelligence firm LunarCrash in May of the previous year revealed a staggering 3,894 per cent surge in scam activities on Twitter, with social engagement on spam posts rising by over 920 percent on various public platforms.
