Research company Cyabra found that almost half of the comments under posts by official PlayStation accounts, dedicated to the August platform boycott, were linked to bots.
According to the report, almost 1,000 fake profiles published automated messages under posts by official PlayStation accounts. These accounts collectively garnered over a million views, and the number of reposts exceeded 100,000. Analysts also found that variations of the #NoDiskNoBuy hashtag with spelling errors were spread by bots in approximately 90% of cases.
The PlayStation boycott took place in late August after Sony's decision to stop releasing physical versions of games for its consoles in 2028. Dissatisfied users urged players to disconnect consoles from the internet and refrain from purchases to reduce monthly audience activity and expenses within the PlayStation ecosystem.
However, data from the US market showed that the campaign had virtually no impact on user engagement metrics.
Researchers emphasize that player dissatisfaction with Sony's decision was quite real. The most actively discussed publications came from real users, not fake accounts. According to Cyabra, 28% of key publications on this topic belonged to accounts with fewer than 5,000 followers. They went viral because they reflected the audience's sentiments.