Tony Khan Says Much of Anti-AEW Community Is Driven By Paid Staff and Fake Bots

Tony Khan claimed on Twitter today that “an independent study has confirmed that much of the staunch anti-AEW online community” is controlled by a paid staff and amplified by fake bot accounts.

“An independent study has confirmed that much of the staunch anti-AEW online community aren’t real individuals,” Khan tweeted. “It’s a staff running thousands of accounts + an army of bots to signal boost them. Look closely, these aren’t real people. Who’d pay for such a *wildly* expensive thing?”

“Ever wonder why so much of the activity of these accounts is retweets and replies? Like who actually has 80% of their activity as straight up retweets?” he continued. “Research this one yourselves. You internet detectives thrive in these situations.”

Ever wonder why so much of the activity of these accounts is retweets and replies? Like who actually has 80% of their activity as straight up retweets?

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 8, 2022

Their boiler room staff is going to be working overtime on a Friday, and I love it!

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 8, 2022

Khan did not provide specific evidence from the independent study that he cited.

Wrestling Inc reached out to Khan for clarification and he provided this statement to them:

“Waiting for final study but here’s what my expert confirmed. It’s people with real live accounts making posts and then using their bots to manipulate the social channel algorithm by backing them up with engagement from a made-up Twitter identity. Social media teams will often fight on this. Bots are great for numbers and when they’re gone, you’ll see a dip in digital conversation impressions – both those were either negative sentiment or not real anyway.

“For example, I tweet Megha only eats rotten bananas. I throw say 18 bots behind it (which takes about 5 minutes to do) Twitter security can’t differentiate when done well (neither can most social teams). The problem becomes, every time people type Megha into the search bar, because of a real account supported by bots- the first suggested result would be tweets about Megha eating rotten bananas. I’m oversimplifying, but that’s the 5 cent version of what’s happening.”