Louise Linton, Randy Bryce, and Clay Aiken all bought fake Twitter followers from a company called Devumi.
By Emily Stewart Jan 27, 2018, 2:34pm EST
American Idol contestant Clay Aiken got more than 5,000 retweets on a 2015 customer complaint about Volvo. Did that many people just really feel for the former reality TV star and Congressional candidate’s gripes about picking up his new car? No. He paid for the social media reach — and he’s not the only one.
On Saturday, The New York Times published a lengthy report on the business of buying and selling fake followers and bots on social media. The report focuses on an obscure American company named Devumi, which according to the Times has made millions of dollars by buying and selling made up accounts online — namely, Twitter. The report has already sparked the interest of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has said he’s opening an investigation.
Devumi, which claims to be based in Manhattan but is in actually run by a 27-year-old out of West Palm Beach, Florida, sells Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses, and anyone seeking to appear more popular or influential online. It has at least 3.5 million automated accounts, which it sells over and over again, and has provided customers with more than 200 million Twitter followers. Some of the accounts are copycats of real accounts; others are straight-up fakes.
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https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/27/16940426/eric-schneiderman-fake-accounts-twitter-times
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