My summary - There are a lot of twitter users with fake followers. This company, Devumi, behind selling fake followers claims they're not really fake because they buy the followers on an influencer marketplace so they're "real" to the buyer (obviously seems questionable). Some people have their social identities stolen which are in turn used to create these fake profiles. Lots of celebrities, athletes, and other famous people have bought fake followers — some directly, others through marketing agencies, and others possibly completely without their knowledge. Most people that the NYT called out denied having knowledge of the purchase of fake followers or blamed a rogue employee. The bots interact in rings with each other so their activity patterns are detectable with analysis. Twitter is not necessarily incentivized to solve the problem because there are probably some bots it has not detected and considers real active users. The founder of the company lists a fake address as residence and fake university degrees as credentials.
It is a long read, but the article has several interactive features that keep it interesting.
tedmiston|8 years ago
My summary - There are a lot of twitter users with fake followers. This company, Devumi, behind selling fake followers claims they're not really fake because they buy the followers on an influencer marketplace so they're "real" to the buyer (obviously seems questionable). Some people have their social identities stolen which are in turn used to create these fake profiles. Lots of celebrities, athletes, and other famous people have bought fake followers — some directly, others through marketing agencies, and others possibly completely without their knowledge. Most people that the NYT called out denied having knowledge of the purchase of fake followers or blamed a rogue employee. The bots interact in rings with each other so their activity patterns are detectable with analysis. Twitter is not necessarily incentivized to solve the problem because there are probably some bots it has not detected and considers real active users. The founder of the company lists a fake address as residence and fake university degrees as credentials.
It is a long read, but the article has several interactive features that keep it interesting.
TomK32|8 years ago
catacombs|8 years ago
notatoad|8 years ago