New York Attorney General to Investigate Firm That Sells Fake Followers
An in-depth report by The New York Times found that more than 200,000 high-profile figures had purchased fake followers after the paper reviewed business and court records for a company called Devumi.
But an investigation by the New York Times into a United States company that sells Twitter followers allegedly found the television star's name on a list of customers.
Devumi isn't being investigated just because it sold 3.5 million fake social media followers.
On Twitter, Schneiderman says that "impersonation and deception are illegal under NY law", and that "the growing prevalence of bots means that real voices are too often drowned out in our public conversation".
"We're opening an investigation into Devumi and its apparent sale of bots using stolen identities", he added.
According to The New York Times, numerous follower accounts impersonate those of genuine people - and have provided Devumi's customers with more than 200 million followers.
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"The growing prevalence of bots means that real voices are too often drowned out in our public conversation", Schneiderman said.
Devumi, which the Times described as trafficking in "counterfeit coins in the booming economy of online influence", advertises on its website that $10 will buy customers at least 500 Twitter followers in one to two days.
Shining a light on social media's "black market", the investigation names the likes of actor John Leguizamo, American Idol contestant Clay Aiken, computer billionaire Michael Dell, former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, model and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland, French musician DJ Snake, American Ninja Warrior host Akbar Gbajabiamila and Twitter board member Martha Lane Fox amongst those faking it.
"Social media companies, whose market value is closely tied to the number of people using their services, make their own rules about detecting and eliminating fake accounts". Social media companies have especially come under scrutiny over their failure to stop the disinformation campaigns.
Devumi has not made a public statement on the report.
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