Social media app IRL, which claimed to have 20 million users,

 

Social media app IRL, which claimed to have 20 million users, has shut down after an internal investigation revealed that over 95% of its accounts were "automated or from bots. " IRL, which positioned itself as an event-focused alternative to Facebook, was once valued at $1.17B. Based on the investigation's findings, shareholders concluded that the company's future prospects were unsustainable. IRL faced mounting issues when a former employee alleged that the company had inflated user counts using bots. Other employees also voiced similar concerns, prompting the SEC to investigate potential securities law violations. In April, IRL's CEO Abraham Shafi was suspended by a special committee of the board of directors after an investigation revealed a pattern of misconduct. IRL, founded in 2016, received significant funding, including a $170M Series C round in 2021 led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2. Its parent company, Live Awake, also operates the app Memix, which is still active.