Optimization Model for Fake Account Detection on Twitter (X) Social Media using Feature Engineering and Machine Learning Approaches

Abstract

Twitter (X) has become an important platform for community interaction, but this also creates serious challenges due to the proliferation of fake accounts that can harm users and undermine credibility. Previous studies have proposed detection methods but often lacked forensic analysis based on extracted feature information. This study utilizes labeled datasets and supervised evaluation metrics (precision, recall, and F1-score) to validate model performance. Extracting behavioral information from features is crucial for achieving accurate and reliable detection results. The study introduces a novelty in the form of engineered behavioral features that significantly enhance detection accuracy, achieving up to 99.94% using AdaBoost. The proposed approach detects fake accounts on Twitter (X) by extracting key feature information and developing an optimal detection method through machine learning algorithms, including Random Forest, SVM, and AdaBoost. Furthermore, the model is optimized using feature engineering techniques. The novelty of this work lies in the development of engineered features through distribution analysis based on data characteristics and the improvement of classification performance through feature engineering optimization. The initial experiment without feature engineering shows that Random Forest achieved the highest accuracy of 98.77%, followed by AdaBoost at 98.57% and SVM at 95.90%. After applying feature engineering, performance improved, with AdaBoost reaching 99.94%, Random Forest 99.69%, and SVM 99.32%. The proposed model can assist system analysts in detecting fake accounts and contribute to solving forensic cybercrime challenges, particularly in identifying fake social media profiles.