ChatGPT may well revolutionize web search, streamline office chores, and remake education, but the smooth-talking chatbot has also found work as a social media crypto huckster. Researchers at Indiana University Bloomington discovered a botnet powered by ChatGPT operating on X—the social network formerly known as Twitter—in May of this year. The botnet, which the researchers dub Fox8 because of its connection to cryptocurrency websites bearing some variation of the same name, consisted of 1,140 accounts. Many of them seemed to use ChatGPT to craft social media posts and to reply to each other’s posts. The auto-generated content was apparently designed to lure unsuspecting humans into clicking links through to the crypto-hyping sites. Micah Musser, a researcher who has studied the potential for AI-driven disinformation, says the Fox8 botnet may be just the tip of the iceberg, given how popular large language models and chatbots have become. “This is the low-hanging fruit,” Musser says. “It is very, very likely that for every one campaign you find, there are many others doing more sophisticated things.” The Fox8 botnet might have been sprawling, but its use of ChatGPT certainly wasn’t sophisticated. The researchers discovered the botnet by searching the platform for the tell-tale phrase “As an AI language model …”, a response that ChatGPT sometimes uses for prompts on sensitive subjects. They then manually analyzed accounts to identify ones that appeared to be operated by bots. “The only reason we noticed this particular botnet is that they were sloppy,” says Filippo Menczer, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington who carried out the research with Kai-Cheng Yang, a student who will join Northeastern University as a postdoctoral researcher for the coming academic year. Despite the tic, the botnet posted many convincing messages promoting cryptocurrency sites. The apparent ease with which OpenAI’s artificial intelligence was apparently harnessed for the scam means advanced chatbots may be running other botnets that have yet to be detected. “Any pretty-good bad guys would not make that mistake,” Menczer says. OpenAI had not responded to a request for comment about the botnet by time of posting. The usage policy for its AI models prohibits using them for scams or disinformation. ChatGPT, and other cutting-edge chatbots, use what are known as large language models to generate text in response to a prompt. With enough training data (much of it scraped from various sources on the web), enough computer power, and feedback from human testers, bots like ChatGPT can respond in surprisingly sophisticated ways to a wide range of inputs. At the same time, they can also blurt out hateful messages, exhibit social biases, and make things up. A correctly configured ChatGPT-based botnet would be difficult to spot, more capable of duping users, and more effective at gaming the algorithms used to prioritize content on social media. “It tricks both the platform and the users,” Menczer says of the ChatGPT-powered botnet. And, if a social media algorithm spots that a post has a lot of engagement—even if that engagement is from other bot accounts—it will show the post to more people. “That’s exactly why these bots are behaving the way they do,” Menczer says. And governments looking to wage disinformation campaigns are most likely already developing or deploying such tools, he adds.

Is the most followed man on X (formerly Twitter) ‘really’ the most followed on X? If a recent analysis is to be believed then it might not be the case. According to a report by Mashable, which cites analytics data from a third-party researcher, most of Elon Musk’s followers aren’t really real. As of last count, Elon Musk has over 153 million followers on Twitter. Data shared by researcher Travis Brown with Mashable reveals that almost 42% of Musk’s followers (nearly 65 million users) have zero followers of their own. Moreover, over 72% of those followers (nearly 112 million) have less than 10 followers. This means that a large portion of Musk’s followers are not active on Twitter and are not following anyone else. This could be due to a number of factors, such as bots, inactive accounts, or people who simply do not use Twitter regularly.62.5 million of Elon Musk’s followers have never posted anything on the platform. Furthermore, over 100 million of his followers have posted less than 10 times. This means that a large percentage of Musk’s followers are not active users of Twitter. It is possible that these followers are simply fans of Musk and want to stay up-to-date on his latest news and announcements, but do not use Twitter for their own personal use. It is also possible that some of these followers are bots or fake accounts.The data also reveals that more than 25% of Elon Musk’s total followers on Twitter joined the platform on or after October 27, 2022, the day he officially acquired Twitter. This means that a significant number of people became interested in following Musk on Twitter after he became the owner of the platform. It is possible that these new followers were interested in seeing what changes Musk will make to Twitter. Or again, these could just be bots. Can Musk’s followers be ‘fake’?A few days before Musk acquired the social media platform, he tweeted, “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” It turns out that a vast chunk of his own followers may just be bot accounts. Chances are that a lot of Musk’s followers are fake or bot accounts. To spot a fake or bot account, there are certain characteristics that need to be noted. Take the case of accounts that have usernames that seem auto-generated or have a series of numbers, then chances are it is a fake or bot account. Or there are accounts that don’t follow or follow very few accounts.In Musk’s case, 38 million of his followers use the default profile picture, which is given to all new accounts registered on that platform. Furthermore, 40 per cent of Musk’s followers have four or more numbers in their usernames. About 44 million of Musk’s followers follow less than 10 people on X and 13.5 million users follow just one account — Musk’s.

The government will shortly notify the appointment and recruitment rules for its chairperson and members Currently, the government is working on criteria for the selection of members and chairperson, and rules in regards to the board’s working The government is planning to hold a consultation process with relevant stakeholders Following the approval of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2023, by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the government is now gearing up to promptly notify the establishment of the Data Protection Board (DPB). Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, stated that the government will soon announce the chairperson and members’ appointment and recruitment guidelines, as ET reported. Presently, the government is actively formulating the criteria for selecting members and the chairperson, as well as establishing rules governing the functioning of the board. Additionally, efforts are underway to define the procedures for the appeal process at the Telecommunications Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The minister also added that the work on rules for personal data breach reporting and other market-wide obligations have also begun. The government is planning to hold a consultation process with relevant stakeholders. “Wherever required, opinions of appropriate experts and stakeholders will also be taken,” he said. The bill, which became law after President Droupadi Murmu granted her assent, aims to replace existing data protection laws, largely enforced via Section 43A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The DPDP Act defines terms such as ‘personal data’ and ‘processing’. According to the new law, personal data as any data that can help identify an individual ‘by or in relation’ to such data. The act also has the concept of user consent, meaning that data can only be processed with the user’s prior permission and only for lawful and specified legitimate purposes. The Data Protection Board of India will monitor compliance and impose penalties. It can also advise the government on blocking access to an intermediary if provisions related to the bill are violated more than twice. For data breaches, entities may have to pay up to INR 250 Cr penalty. As per the Act, penalties would be imposed by the Data Protection Board after conducting an inquiry and TDSAT will be the appellate body for decisions of the proposed board. Although the Act provides much-needed clarity to users on how corporations can use their data. Besides the opposition, it has also received criticism from industry stakeholders. There are concerns that this bill would lead to state-sponsored surveillance of citizens and violate citizens’ right to privacy.

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X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has deleted images and posts dating back to before December 2014. The deletion has affected many users, who have lost access to photos, videos, and other content they posted on the platform in the early years.This allegedly happened due to a technical glitch that affected tweets published before December 2014.Confusion around old tweetsBack then they were called tweets only and there seems to be some confusion around them. A report by The Verge indicates that the famous Ellen Degeneres selfie isn’t visible to users on X. However, former US President Barack Obama’s image of hugging Michelle Obama after being reelected as president in 2012 is still visible on the platform. So far, neither X’s official support account nor Twitter owner or CEO have mentioned anything about the glitch. The post deletion comes at a time when the billionaire owner of Twitter raised a rather controversial matter. No more ‘blocks’ on TwitterMeanwhile, Elon Musk has said that he believes the blocking feature on Twitter “makes no sense” and that it should be replaced with a “stronger form of mute.” He has also said that he plans to remove the ability to block users altogether.Musk’s comments have been met with mixed reactions. Some people agree with him that the blocking feature is too restrictive and that it can be used to silence dissenting voices. Others argue that the blocking feature is an essential tool for protecting users from harassment and abuse.Musk also said that “Instead of blocking, I think there should be a stronger form of mute” and that he is “definitely open to ideas on how to improve the blocking/muting feature.” It remains to be seen how Musk’s plans for the blocking feature will affect Twitter users. However, Musk’s comments have certainly irked a few and chances are he might just go through with it being a “free speech absolutist” – something he refers to himself as.

The partnership will open up Jio’s prepaid users for acquisition by Netflix and will enable the streaming company to leverage Jio as an effective distribution channel For the first time in India, Netflix has partnered with a telecom company to offer prepaid tariff plans that come bundled with its subscription The biggest issue, however, seems to be the affordability of the bundled plans in the price-sensitive Indian market When Netflix forayed into India at the outset of 2016, its senior executives flagged slow internet speeds as one of the key hiccups to its penetration. However, all of that changed in a few months as Reliance Jio waltzed into the telecom arena.  The telecom war spurred the rise of data consumption and penetration of high-speed 4G internet services across the country as telcos offered data at dirt-cheap prices. Seven years later, it seems life has come full circle for the two companies as Jio and Netflix have announced a new offering that has the potential to rejig the streaming space. For the first time in India, Netflix has partnered with a telecom company to offer prepaid tariff plans bundled with a subscription for the US-based streaming major. While Netflix has largely played it safe so far, targeting standalone subscribers and postpaid users, its latest move could spur its India numbers. To summarise briefly, Jio has launched two prepaid plans priced at INR 1,099 (2GB/ day) and INR 1,499 (3GB/ day) with a validity of 84 days. The former comes embedded with the Netflix (mobile) plan, which sells for INR 149 a month, while the latter includes the ‘basic’ plan of Netflix, which is worth INR 199 per month. While the INR 1,099 plan will offer Netflix subscription worth INR 447 over a period of almost three months, the INR 1,499 plan will enable users to avail INR 597 worth of services. To put things in perspective, Jio’s current 2GB per day data plans with 84 days validity sell anywhere between INR 719 to INR 749. On the other hand, Jio’s 3GB data per day plan for 84 days cost INR 999.  While the details of the financial partnership are not known, Jio and Netflix are banking on the playbook of offering bundled offerings at small concessions to woo new customers.  However, the stakes are much higher for Netflix, which has lately undertaken multiple changes at its India operations with an eye on alternate revenue streams. The streaming company has partnered with a host of companies and is looking beyond price as a way to increase the number of users. With the latest partnership with Jio, Netflix is looking to hook the users of the telecom operator, offering them a taste of global shows as well as some vernacular content.  Can Netflix Capitalise On Jio’s User Base?  Netflix’s previous partnerships with telecom operators only targeted postpaid customers, who accounted for just 8% of the total telecom subscriber base in the country at the end of March 2023, thereby limiting its reach. The new partnership with Jio will open up a huge swathe of prepaid wireless subscribers for Netflix. Jio, which commanded a market share of 38.17% in the Indian telecom space as of May 2023, is expected to serve as an acquisition channel for Netflix, which so far has failed to zero in on a strategy in the country to shore up its user numbers.  The partnership with Jio will offer Netflix a direct entry in the subscription slab and ensure that the telecom operator’s users scroll through the bundled offerings whenever they buy a plan.  The bundled offerings will also make Netflix’s content more accessible to the masses and the streaming giant can skip forging partnerships with multiple stakeholders to push its services. This mirrors the playbook of ALTBalaji and Eros Now, both of which debuted their shows for free on Jio Cinema and Jio TV to gain traction and popularise their respective platforms. Reliance owns a stake in both these companies.  The collaboration with Jio will also help Netflix build a different revenue model where it banks on Jio’s network of dealers to get revenue through mobile recharges in a country where penetration of online payments and debit cards is still low.  Netflix also plans to leverage the data-guzzling Indian population, which spends a good chunk of its days viewing shows on streaming platforms. As per a report by Eros Now and KPMG, an average Indian viewer spent around 70 minutes per day on OTT platforms.  As per Reliance’s Q1 FY24 results, the per capita data usage of Jio users stood at nearly INR 25 GB per month, offering Netflix a window to capture these content-crazy subscribers.  The move will also enable Netflix to shed its image as a predominantly Gen Z and millennial offering and open the floodgates for other demographics to experience the streaming service.  The partnership appears to be a win-win situation for both players, especially for Netflix which can bank on Jio’s infrastructure, billing system and customer care to build a better customer experience while attracting more user eyeballs. On the other hand, it will also enable Jio to keep customer churn lower.  “Netflix has strategically introduced an INR 149 plan catered specifically for mobile users. The bundling strategy not only helps OTT players and aggregators in garnering substantial viewership figures but also synergistically aligns with the core offerings of both products, it’s like a win-win for both,” Avinash Mudaliar, cofounder and CEO of content discovery platform OTTplay, told Inc42.  Netflix’s India Problem India has been a challenging market for the US-based streaming giant for a long time. In 2021, its founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings said that the company was still trying to figure out the product-market fit for India even as it potentially spent about $400 Mn in the country since 2019. Since then, Netflix has slashed corners, cut subscription prices and unveiled a host of locally produced shows to attract the predominantly vernacular audience in the country. While it burned a lot

Shares of Nykaa plunged nearly 10% this week following its underwhelming Q1 results, while DroneAcharya emerged as the biggest winner following key business updates from the startup New-age tech stocks saw a new addition this week, as blockchain and IT development startup Yudiz Solutions got listed at a 12% premium at INR 185 apiece on the NSE SME platform In the broader market, Sensex fell 0.57% to 64,948.66 and Nifty 50 declined 0.61% to 19,310.15 this week With the Q1 FY24 earnings season coming to an end, Indian new-age tech stocks succumbed to the weakness in the broader domestic and global equity markets and witnessed a significant slump this week.  A majority of new-age stocks, including Paytm, IndiaMart, Tracxn, Zomato, Cartrade Technologies, EaseMyTrip, and Nykaa, fell in a range of 0.1% and 10% this week. The decline in Nykaa and EaseMyTrip shares was largely driven by their Q1 financial results. Nykaa also emerged as the biggest loser, declining 9.8% this week, hurt by its lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. Despite pressure in the broader market, DroneAcharya, RateGain, ideaForge, Nazara Technologies, and PB Fintech rose this week, gaining in a range of 0.1% and over 5%.  DroneAcharya once again emerged as the biggest winner, with its shares zooming 5.5% on the BSE following several business updates from the startup. The drone startup said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a leading university in the Philippines to provide drone pilot training and drone data processing training to the local government units of the country. Besides, DroneAcharya also won a tender from the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC) under which it would supply various drone systems and provide drone pilot training courses to the staff of the Karnataka Forest Department. On the other hand, Nazara’s gains this week were led by the announcement of its $500K investment in Israel-based game developer Snax Games. Meanwhile, the list of new-age tech stocks saw a new addition this week, as blockchain and IT development startup Yudiz Solutions got listed at a 12% premium at INR 185 apiece on the NSE SME platform. In the broader market, Sensex fell 0.57% to 64,948.66 and Nifty 50 declined 0.61% to 19,310.15 this week. The market was shut on August 15 on the occasion of Independence Day. “World equity markets, including India, are under the grip of a sharp rise in US bond yields which has led to currency depreciation in China and other emerging markets. This has prompted investors to park their funds in safe haven dollar securities by exiting risky equity assets,” said Amol Athawale, VP of technical research at Kotak Securities. He said the consolidation phase in local markets could continue for some more time as worries over further interest rate hikes in the US and other key economies, high inflation and slowing growth in China would curb appetite for equity as an asset class in the near term.  It must be noted that India’s CPI inflation surged to 7.44% in July from 4.87% in June, its highest level since April 2022. Commenting on the outlook, Pravesh Gour, senior technical analyst at Swastika Investmart, said macroeconomic indicators, trends in global stock markets, and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) activities will be pivotal in shaping market trends in the coming days.  Now, let’s take a detailed look at the performance of some of the new-age tech stocks this week. The 16 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage ended the week with a total market capitalisation of $34.45 Bn as against 15 stocks ending last week at $34.96 Bn. The Worst Is Still Not Over For Nykaa Helped by the improvement in market sentiment for new-age tech stocks, shares of Nykaa had been witnessing some improvement since May this year. However, its shares slumped once again this week, falling almost 10% on the BSE, as its Q1 FY24 earnings failed to cheer up investors. The shares slumped to end the week at INR 131.9 on the BSE. In The News For: Commenting on the stock, Jigar S Patel, senior manager, technical research analyst at Anand Rathi, said that Nykaa is currently in a correction mode and it might fall further. The best price for buying the stock would be around INR 125-INR 127 level. The stop loss for the stock is around INR 115 and the target is INR 160, he added. Deep Discounts Hurt EaseMyTrip’s Bottom Line In Q1 Traveltech major EaseMyTrip on Monday (August 14) reported a 21.8% YoY decline in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 25.9 Cr in Q1 FY24, which was also a 16% decline, sequentially. The bottom line took a hit despite a 41.5% YoY jump in operating revenue to INR 124 Cr and the startup reporting a record quarterly gross booking revenue (GBR) of INR 2,371 Cr in Q1. EaseMyTrip cited the discounts provided by it to its customers across segments from June 1-10, 2023 to celebrate its 15th anniversary as the reason for the fall in its profit. Following the results, EaseMyTrip shares slumped 7.5% in the next three consecutive sessions in the week, ending Friday’s session at INR 37.36 on the BSE. Anand Rathi’s Patel said that the stock looks a bit weak right now and might fall further till INR 30-INR 34 level, which would be the ideal price to buy the stock. After this, the stock is expected to bounce back and might jump to INR 40-INR 41 in the coming weeks, he added. RateGain Shares Touch A New All-Time High Shares of RateGain have touched several record highs following its Q1 earnings, published last week. This week the stock touched an all-time high at INR 604.85 on Thursday (August 17). Overall, the shares of the traveltech SaaS startup jumped 5.3% this week, making it the second biggest winner. It ended Friday’s session at INR 571.75 on the BSE as the shares fell 4.2% from Thursday’s close. RateGain’s PAT almost tripled YoY to INR 24.9 Cr in Q1 FY24, while operating revenue jumped

Googlethis week sent emails to its billions of users reminding them of changes in its ‘Google Account inactivity policy’. Google is updating the inactivity period for a Google Account to two years across all its products and services. This change has started rolling out will apply to any Google Account that’s been inactive, meaning it has not been signed into or used within a two-year period.An inactive account and any content in it will be eligible for deletion from December 1, 2023.It is important to note that once a Google Account is deleted, the Gmail address for the deleted account cannot be used again when creating a new Google Account.Why the updation in policyGoogle said that it is updating the policy for security and safety reasons. Explaining the reason in the email sent to users the company said that keeping their accounts safe means having strong privacy practices across its products. “We want to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorized access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services,” the company said.What this means for usersThese changes do not impact users unless they have left a Google account inactive for two years or have not used their account to sign in to any Google service for over two years. “If your account is considered inactive, we will send several reminder emails to both you and your recovery emails (if any have been provided) before we take any action or delete any account content. These reminder emails will go out at least 8 months before any action is taken on your account.” How to keep your account active?The simplest way to keep a Google Account active is to sign in to the account at least once every two years. If you have signed in to your Google Account recently in the past two years, your account is considered active and will not be deleted.Other ways to keep your account active include:* Reading or sending an email* Using Google Drive* Watching a YouTube video* Sharing a photo* Downloading an app* Using Google Search* Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service.Exceptions to the policyThere are some exceptions to this policy. Examples include: a Google Account with YouTube channels, videos or comments; an account that has a gift card with a monetary balance; or an account that has a published application, for example, one that hosts an app on the Google Play store.

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Besides revenue panic among real money gaming startups, there’s a fear that VCs might walk away from this segment at least for the next few months India’s real money gaming industry is on a precipice. The recently proposed changes for GST have thrown a major curveball for players such as Dream11, MPL, Zupee, WinZO, Rush by Hike, and a host of other startups that fear the worst. While the rules will only go into effect from October, the new GST rate could be applied retrospectively which has clearly created panic among many startups. We have already seen this in the case of MPL, Hike and Spartan Poker which have laid off employees, but more severe steps are likely to come. Besides revenue panic, there’s a fear that VCs might walk away from RMG and invest in other gaming models, denting the fortunes of some large companies. Let’s jump into these problems, but after these must-read stories from our newsroom this week: Skill-Lync’s Debt Trap For Students: Fake loan applications, personal loans masquerading as educational loans, no placements and a debt trap. The story of why hundreds of students are outraged at edtech platform Skill-Lync Unicorns As Job Creators? Inc42 data shows that Flipkart is the biggest employer among Indian unicorns, with 47,859 employees on its payroll. Where do the other unicorns stand? The Zyber 365 Mystery: Ahmedabad-based web3 & AI startup ZYBER 365 recently claimed to have become India’s 109th unicorn. But Inc42’s exclusive investigation shows this is a smoke and mirrors game RMG Vs The Tax Boss Let’s get one thing out of the way. The changes in the GST structure impact those online games that include wagering or an entry fee to play with a real-money payout. It covers “games of skill” as well as “games of chance”, but for the purposes of the startup ecosystem, it’s largely going to disrupt those gaming platforms that have fantasy sports, rummy, poker, card games and similar real money casual games as their primary models. The revenue models of each of these different games will be impacted distinctly by the new changes. Here’s a look at how things change in the two most popular categories: As we can see, the new GST rules make it more complicated for the latter category to be appealing to users who are chasing real money rewards. Players will need to consistently make 40% or higher profits on their entry amount to get any real outcomes from these games. The impact is slightly lower on the fantasy sports platforms, which typically involve a one-time entry fee that can be spread across multiple pooled competitions. In pooled competitions, the prize money is distributed to multiple players. With the new GST rules, the winners of pools might continue to get the same prize money, whereas second or third place players might not get the same payouts as they do now. So even within the real money gaming ecosystem — which accounted for 77% of the total gaming sector revenue of INR 13,500 Cr as per a FICCI-EY report — there is a clear disparity in terms of the impact. And the higher tax burden is set to hurt smaller companies more. VCs believe that even though the tax burden has risen, companies such as Dream11 have the revenue safety net to continue scaling up despite the disruption. With INR 142 Cr in profits in FY22 and being a market leader, Dream11 in particular, is in a better position than others to navigate this market. Other companies will have to not only bear the tax burden, but also compete with Dream11 which can count on high brand recall and a legacy in the fantasy sports arena. “It is the smaller companies that have to worry. They neither have the scale to justify a fund infusion to navigate the new GST world nor do they have the revenue to pay the taxes and also absorb the lower potential revenue,” according to a Delhi NCR-based gaming investor. Gaming Startups Stare At Layoffs  So what kind of impact can one expect? MPL has laid off 350 employees, Hike (Rush) has also let go of more than 100 employees and Spartan Poker has let go of 40% of its workforce. And this is just the beginning, according to many of those in the industry. Founders in the space tell us that cost-cutting has become necessary for many because if they want to survive, they need to solve the unit economics problem created by the potential slowdown in RMG adoption. This is particularly true for poker, rummy and other card games, where players are smart enough to see that they either have to be ready for higher losses or invest more and balance the tax burden vs the potential for winning. “In the initial few days of the GST changes going into effect, there will be a drop-off of the casual players who typically put in like INR 200-INR 300 per month. This is about 90% of the user base. It’s only a small percentage that pay fees in excess of INR 10,000 per month,” says the cofounder of a Delhi NCR-based RMG startup. The cofounder added that most startups are more or less writing off casual users. They expect to retain only a handful of the high value players. “RMG players were hiring multiple product managers and focussing on expanding on formats, but all of that has to be revisited now. As it is many of these companies were bloated and some of them needed to cut costs anyway. The GST disruption means they have no recourse now,” according to an exec from a game development company. VCs Are Walking Away The new unit economics battle in light of 28% GST is not only for creating sustainable models but also to attract investors. Any unit economics disruption in the current funding winter means delays of months in funding talks and investors are already walking away. Sources within the ecosystem tell us that