Selling (Fake) Social Media Followers Is Big Business

We've all had the reaction of judging content and individuals by their number of followers and likes and not by their substance. Surprise, surprise--in the world of social media, many followers and likes aren't real. Not only is fake social media following still a thing, it is big business.

A company called Devumi can get you millions of fake views, followers, and likes on everything from Twitter (with plans beginning at $10) to YouTube (with plans that begin at $17). Even on SoundCloud, you can get a million plays with likes and reposts included. Devumi promises followers will even "look authentic!" and not look like bots, which are profiles created with stolen identities and pictures from real people like you and me.

Even big names like Clay Aiken, Kathy Ireland, and "Shark Tank" judge Lori Greiner have been buying fake followers, according to a New York Times report. After the report, Mark Cuban weighed in, saying it is time for Twitter and Facebook to stomp out the fakes.

Now New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office will investigate Devumi. We tried to reach the company but our repeated calls had no way of getting a real person on the line. So we went to the listed address on 7th Avenue in New York City. Security told us no company named Devumi is in the directory.

Devumi is only one of the countless companies using bots to sell fake social media popularity, making money, many say, at the expense of honest people who truly deserve attention.

This comes down to economics. Experts say that if social media companies start losing money because of these tactics then they'll do something about it. But right now they're not losing money.

--ARTHUR CHI'EN

[Native]

Amazing Arthur got fired from CBS for cussing on air and now he's on Fox. Good for him!

[Flagrant_Violations]

Well the assumption that they’ll do something if they’re losing money because of it assumes people are actually competent regarding their own optimizations. This could be a pretty large assumption in the us these days. The us economy is losing billions of dollars per week and numerous lives because of a few mil of contracts unpaid and systematic even formally confessed rights violations, including by a police chief who falsified/destroyed/tampered with numerous legally protected records that even tangibly endangered law enforcement/service members, because of former assistant vice undersecretary of defense John Rogers and his daughter etc. You would think that billions of dollars per week of documented losses and many lives would get some people to figure out how to do the minimum of their job descriptions.