Controversies and scandals are often brewing in the lightning-fast world of crypto. Elon Musk, the influential CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is behind the newest upheaval, which involves Twitter suspending a memecoin-linked AI bot.
The incident demonstrates how influential and powerful social media can be in the Bitcoin industry, where even a single tweet can cause widespread disruption. Dive into the depths of this exciting story with me.
Twitter suspends an AI bot
Elon Musk, who uses Twitter as his primary method of communication with his sizable following, started it all. Musk voiced doubt and alarm in a series of tweets regarding the legitimacy of a memecoin that had grown significantly in popularity recently. The internet tycoon called it “scam crypto” and advised his followers not to buy into it.
On June 18, in response to the bot’s message, Musk tweeted that the account was a scam. Shortly after that, the account appeared to be suspended.
According to reports, the Explain This Bob account had over 400,000 followers when it got shut down. Prabhu Biswal from India built the bot, which used OpenAI’s GPT-4 model to understand and respond to tweets from people who had tagged the account.
Bob Token (BOB), an ERC-20 memecoin, was released in April and was connected to the project. CoinGecko reports that the suspension caused a drop of almost 30% in the price of BOB.
Elon Musk’s tweeting “I love Bob” in response to one of the bot’s tweets on April 20 is prominently displayed on the project’s website; thus, his decision to suspend it is a sharp reversal from his previous opinion of the bot.
The effects of this occurrence went beyond the immediate shutdown of the AI bot connected to memecoin. Following Musk’s allegation and the ensuing Twitter suspension, the value of the memecoin itself significantly decreased. The dispute affected investor mood, which sparked a wave of sell-offs and caused significant losses for those who had made sizable investments in memecoin.
The crypto community requests Elon Musk to release Bob
Since the suspension, some crypto industry members have urged Musk to lift the restriction and allow access to the bot account. The team behind the Bob token also posted a meme showing Musk keeping tabs on a distressed “Bob” in jail, along with the hashtag “FREEBOB.”
However, Twitter has not taken any action against the Bob Token account. The team behind the project amusingly reacted to the suspension news by posting a meme showing Musk watching a distressed “Bob” in jail.
Crypto influencer @CryptoDefiLord called it “the only meme project whose utility I appreciated,” describing it as “a good bot.” Most observers believe that BOB is not a scam currency and that the suspension is unjustified because the token’s launch was “fair,” and BOB is “fully decentralized,” and has a 0% tax mechanism.
Another alleged that the team didn’t give itself any tokens or airdrops before the launch of the Bob Token in April.
Just days before this, the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) released a study accusing major social media sites, including Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube, of facilitating scams using digital assets; thus, Elon Musk’s latest step is particularly timely.
In a study released earlier this month, the watchdog group said that scammers take advantage of Instagram and TikTok’s lax restrictions to prey on naive young users.
According to the BEUC, “the approach of social media platforms to crypto advertising is very dubious,” and some of them are still unable to enforce their standards adequately.
Elon Musk’s assertion that BOB is a “scam crypto” led to the suspension of the memecoin-related AI bot on Twitter, underscoring the market’s turbulence and susceptibility. It highlights how effective social media is at influencing investment choices and public sentiment. Regulators, platforms, and users must be attentive as the world of cryptos develops to separate fact from fiction and provide a more safe and open environment for all players.
