Part 7/15:
The reality is that almost every major platform—be it Twitch, YouTube, Spotify, or Substack—is being infiltrated by these artificially generated metrics. For example:
Twitch: Studies indicate that 80% of the top 500 streamers show signs of viewbotting or artificial inflation. Small streamers are often forced into the practice simply to stay afloat because discoverability on Twitch is notoriously difficult without artificially boosting metrics.
YouTube: Since 2009, fake views have been an issue, but the platform's extensive purges, especially in 2012, tried to combat this. Yet, correction algorithms often strip fake views after they've already influenced the algorithmic recommendation systems, giving some creators an unfair head start.