Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have always been in an arms race with bots—software that impersonates a user, often used by spammers. Twitter listed spam accounts as a “risk factor” in its recent annual report, estimating that 5 percent of active accounts are fake, but conceding it could be higher.
But social networks and messaging companies are now moving to welcome bots into their networks. Helping companies set up marketing or customer service bots is seen as a new revenue source.
