New York Times Report Reveals Massive Social Media Bot Fraud!

The often frowned upon art of buying fake followers and engagement on social media is by far nothing new, but a new investigative report from the New York Times reveals just how bad the problem has become. The recent report from the times reveals how influential personalities from Hollywood actors, to the political elite, and even a Twitter employee sought to deceive the public by artificially inflating their social influence on the web.

The Times recent investigation centers upon a bot buying service called Devumi, just one of many publicly available platforms on the web where people often go to buy everything from fake followers, to fake engagement, such as fake retweets, shares, likes, etc.

What's really shocking are the personalities that The Times claims purchased services from Devumi, including Clay Aiken, actor John Leguizamo, Louis Linton (the wife of the often heavily frowned upon treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin), CNN mouthpiece Hilary Rosen, Kathy Ireland (the super model well noted for many appearances on the front of Sports Illustrated), politician Randy Bryce, and get this, even a Twitter board member, Martha Lane Fox.

While The Times report may be especially damaging to the reputation of those we noted above, the art of buying bots to increase social influence also presents a serious problem for social media based advertising firms and the brands they represent.

Today, brands are now connecting with social media influencers more than ever to promote their products and services. Just look at the social media influencer craze that appears to have taken platforms like Instagram by storm. Often the advertising firms pay these influencers based on their potential reach. But what if half of those influencers followers were fakes, and a large portion of their retweets, shares, and likes, weren't real either?

Given the fact individuals can so easily make use of bot services like Devumi, one has to wonder if social media platforms like Twitter and others are actually complicit in allowing the proliferation of fake followers? Even the original article from The Times notes how the market value of social media platforms is often closely tied to their levels of active users, and how many users they manage to retain overall.

And, what about the fact The Times report accuses a Twitter board member of being one of those who made use of these services? Did Martha Lane Fox really use Devumi's services to buy hordes of fake followers and artificial retweets? If so, how does Twitter itself plan to respond to such allegations? After all, Twitter states in its terms of service that the purchasing of fake engagement is clearly against its guidelines, as noted in this post from Twitter itself: https://help.twitter.com/en/safety-and-security/fake-twitter-followers-and-interactions

Besides all the scrutiny from the media, it appears the recent Times report has also caught the attention of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman noted in a recent post on Twitter how impersonation and deception are illegal under New York law, and he's since opened an investigation into the recent findings regarding Devumi and its users. https://twitter.com/AGSchneiderman/status/957289783490957312

At this point its probably fair to say the accused could be facing civil and criminal penalties as a result of their deceptive practices of artificially inflating their social presence and influence.

As this article from Vox points out: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/27/16940426/eric-schneiderman-fake-accounts-twitter-times In the case of Clay Aiken, he made use of fake followers and retweets from the Devumi platform to help expand the reach of his posts, including a complaint he had about a new Volkswagon he purchased. The article also notes how Randy Brice's campaign admitted the politician did indeed buy fake followers.

To note just how pervasive the problem with bots on social media has become, all it takes is a quick search in Google to reveal page after page of these deceptive services. Until the recent report from The Times surfaced, such services, along with those who seek their use have largely gone under the radar of legal authorities. But this very well could change in light of Schneiderman's current investigation.

My thoughts on all of this:

After 5 years of working to build a media organization from the ground up that now consists of over 750,000+ members and followers across all my media's social profiles including my own, I personally find it down-right disrespectful and insulting that people would undermine the hard work and influence of people like myself. Here I put tens of thousands of grueling hours of sweat into building my audiences, while others cheat their way to the top with the use of bots they purchased on some rogue platform.

I honestly hope Schneiderman throws the book at these celebrities who crap on the hard work of myself and others, by slapping these people with massive fines for their illegal and clearly deceptive social behavior. As for Martha Lane Fox, if the allegations prove to be true, which it appears they are, she should step down immediately from her position on Twitter's board of directors.

Nonetheless, The actions of the New York State Attorney General's office may not be enough to stamp out the issues with platforms who sell bots, nor put a stop to those who gracefully make use of them. In the long run, its likely going to take legislative action by the Congress and Senate to finally put the nail in the coffin of platforms like Devumi who sell social engagement for a fee.

Written and published by Daniel Imbellino, co-founder of Strategic Social Networking and Gamers Bay! Connect with me on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DanielImbellino

Check Out Strategic Social Networking Community on Google+: https://plus.google.com/communities/116564172151613669656

Additional Resources:
Here's the investigative report from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/social-media-bots.html