Loneliness on the Net: American company sells bots and fake subscribers - ForumDaily
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Loneliness in the network: the American company sells bots and fake subscribers

Jessica Richly - a teenager from Minnesota, she has a wide smile and wavy hair. Jessica likes reading and rapper Post Malone. On Facebook and Twitter, she writes that she is bored, or exchanges jokes with friends. From time to time, like many adolescents, publishes dakfeys-selfie.

Фото: Depositphotos

However, a version of Jessica lives on Twitter that none of her friends and relatives would have recognized. The two Jessica have the same name, photo, and fancy bio - “I'm in trouble,” but another Jessica advertised accounts offering to invest in Canadian real estate, cryptocurrency and a radio station in Ghana. Fake Jessica follow and retweet accounts in Arabic and Indonesian languages ​​that Jessica didn’t own. While the girl lived the normal life of a high school student, her twin tweeted hard porn. Knife Edition told how millions of people make money on fake accounts.

Fake Jessica type accounts are owned by clients of a troubled American company called Devumi which earned millions of dollars in fraud in the global shadow social media market.

Devumi sells subscribers and retweets to celebrities, businesses and anyone who wants to appear more popular or have influence on the Internet. Using a database of at least 3,5 million automated accounts, each of which has been sold many times, the company has provided its customers with more than 200 million subscribers. These are the results. New York Times investigations.

Judging by the accounts, most of which are similar to the accounts of real people - like Miss Richley, we are talking about the large-scale theft of personal data. At least 55 has thousands of accounts using names, profile photos, hometown, and other personal information of real Twitter users, including minors.

Social networks today are teeming with fake accounts started by government agencies, criminals and entrepreneurs. According to some calculations, as many as 48 of millions of active Twitter users, that is, almost 15%, are automated accounts created with the goal of imitating real people - although the company claims that this figure is much lower.

These fake accounts, also known as bots, can influence the advertising audience and change the course of political debate. They can trick commercial companies and ruin reputations. At the same time, their creation and sale are legally in the gray zone.

Although Twitter and other sites prohibit the purchase of followers, Devumi and dozens of other sites openly sell them.

Founder Devumi Herman Kalas denies that his company sells fake subscribers, and says that he does not know anything about the information stolen from real users.

Journalists New York Times studied judicial and business history Devumi and found that the company has more than 200 thousands of customers, including reality TV stars, professional athletes, comedians, TED speakers, deputies, models and preachers.

Фото: Depositphotos

Most of them acquired subscribers in person. In other cases, the purchase was made by their employees, agents, PR people, family members, or friends. For a penny Devumi offers followers on Twitter, views on YouTube, losses on SoundCloud and approval (endorsement) on LinkedIn. Fake Followers Devumi also serve as ghost marines in online political battles. Among the company's customers are both passionate fans and ardent opponents of President Trump, as well as liberal analysts and a journalist from the alt-right bastion.

Company spokesperson Twitter Kristin Binns said that usually the social network does not freeze the accounts of users suspected of buying bots, in part because it is difficult to find out who is responsible for a particular acquisition. Unlike other social networks, Twitter does not require an account to be associated with a real person. It also provides more automatic access to its site than other companies, which facilitates the creation and control of a large number of accounts.

Economics of influence

Last year, 3 billion people logged in on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Votsap.

The collective global passion for communication has created a new status marker - the number of people who have subscribed to you, like you or add you as a friend. For some representatives of the entertainment industry and entrepreneurs, this virtual status serves as a real currency.

The number of subscribers in social networks can determine who will hire them, how much they will pay, and even how potential customers will value their business or products.

A large number of subscribers plays a key role for "popular bloggers." The more subscribers a blogger has, the more he earns. According to the company mediating between bloggers and brands Captiv8, a blogger with 100 thousands of subscribers on average for an advertising tweet can get about two thousand dollars, and a blogger with a million followers - 20 thousands.

On sites like Social Envy and DIYLikes.com With just a credit card number, you can buy a huge number of subscribers on almost any site. Most of these sites offer what they call “active” or “organic” subscribers, never directly telling whether real people are behind these accounts. Purchased subscribers can be an influential tool.

“You see a large number of subscribers or retweets, and you think that an important person is in front of you or that a particular tweet is popular,” explains Rand Fishkin, the founder Moz, a company that produces search engine optimization software. “As a result, you are more willing to share this entry, share it, or subscribe to this account.”

Фото: Depositphotos

Buying bots

Most of the most famous customers Devumi sell goods, services or themselves in social networks. In an interview, their explanations vary. They bought subscribers because they were curious about how it works, or because they felt the need to have a large number of followers for themselves or their clients.

Some admit that they thought the company was supplying real potential fans or customers. Others do not deny - they knew or suspected that they were receiving fake accounts as subscribers.

More than a hundred “opinion leaders”, whose market value is even more connected with the number of subscribers in social networks, have been bought from Devumi followers on Twitter.

Katy Ireland - once a model, and today the chairman of the empire for licensing worth more than half a billion dollars - has more than a million followers on Twitter, which she often uses to advertise companies with which she has agreements. Wisconsin company American Family Insurance, for example, claimed that the former model was one of its most influential brand ambassadors - celebrities who are paid for product promotion.

Last January, Miss Ireland had only 160 thousands of subscribers. And next month, judging by the records DevumiKatie’s branding agency employee spent about two thousand dollars on 300 thousand more subscribers.

Other buyers claim that they faced pressure from employers who demanded an increase in the number of subscribers in social networks. When an international model agency Wilhelmina He hired a young journalist, Marcus Holmlund, to engage their SMM, he was delighted at first.

But when it became clear that the number of agency subscribers on Twitter was not growing fast enough, the chief told Marcus to buy followers — or go look for another job.

In 2015, Holmlund began monthly acquiring subscribers from Devumi on their own money.

Several clients Devumi admitted that they bought bots, because their career depends in part on the degree of influence on social networks.

"If you do not have a noticeable weight in social networks, no one will take you seriously," says economist Jason Schenker.

He has acquired at least 260 thousands of subscribers.

It is quite natural that the company also sold millions of followers and retweets to representatives of the Hollywood entertainment industry of the lower and middle class - for example, actor Ryan Hirst, the star of the TV series “Sons of Anarchy”. In 2016 and 2017, he collectively acquired 750 thousands of subscribers, about three-quarters of his followers. It cost less than four thousand dollars.

Фото: Depositphotos

Theft and Sale

Created in 2014, a fake Richly account appears on purchase orders from hundreds of customers. Devumi. Fake Jessica also retweeted at least five users associated with the successful American porn director and actor Dan Leal, who lives in Hungary and tweets @PornoDan. Mr. Leal, who for several years purchased from Devumi at least 150 thousands of subscribers, one of at least dozens of company customers who work in the adult or escort film industry.

In an e-mail, Mr. Leal informed us that buying subscribers for his business brings more than enough income to pay for expenses. Sanctions by Twitter don't bother him.

“Followers are bought by many public figures, companies, groups, etc. If Twitter I wanted to clear the site from everyone who does this, there would be no one left, ”he wrote.

Analysis of the authors of the investigation showed that the company sold at least tens of thousands of similar high-quality bots. In some cases, a single real Twitter user turned into hundreds of different bots, each of which was only slightly different from the original.

These fake accounts borrowed the identity of Twitter users from all US states and dozens of countries, from adults to minors, from very active users to those who haven’t logged in to their account for years.

At December rates, Devumi sold high-quality subscribers for less than two cents each. If you sell to about two thousand customers, the approximate number of those who are subscribed to by many bot accounts. Devumi, its social identity will bring the company 30 dollars.

Some of the top bots Devumi in effect, replacing a fake unused Twitter account owned by a person who has stopped using the service.

The journalist visited the address in Manhattan, listed on the company's website Devumi. Dozens of tenants live in the building, but Devumi and its parent company Bytion among them, apparently, no. The representative of the building owner said that Devumi nor bytion there the premises were never rented. The office of the company turned out to be the same illusion as the subscribers sold by it.

Фото: Depositphotos

Mystery man

According to company records, dozens of customer service employees Devumi based in the philippines. In real life, the company is sitting in a small office above a Mexican restaurant in the town of West Palm Beach in Florida. The windows of the room overlook the street filled with trash cans and parked cars. Mr. Kalas lives nearby, in a penthouse.

In the profile on the site LinkedIn Kalas is described as a “serial entrepreneur” with a wealth of experience in doing business in the technology industry and a scientific degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But this image is also a combination of facts and fiction.

Kalas, who is now 27 years old, grew up in Florida, where he studied web design as a teenager and made websites for local companies. So say the early versions of his personal page, which can be found in the "archive" of the Internet. At some point, Kalas has mastered the techniques of SEO - search engine optimization. For several years, according to his statement, he created dozens of Internet companies that served ten million customers.

Kalas' ambitions grew - and with them the tendency to embellish the details of his biography.

A copy of his resume states that in 2000, he received a degree in Physics from Princeton University - then he should have been 10 years - and a Ph.D. in computer systems from MIT.

In both educational institutions they claim that they have no data that Kalas studied there. On the current page of a businessman in LinkedIn stated that he has a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of “international business” (there is no such specialty among the institute courses).

Фото: Depositphotos

Supply chain

There are a lot of muddy sites scattered around the Web, where anonymous bot creators connect with operators like Devumi. Individual customers can shop at some of these sites - Peakerr, CheapPanel and YTbothowever they are not very user oriented. Somewhere do not accept credit cards - only cryptocurrency.

All sites sell subscribers, likes and shores in a number of social networks in different languages. Accounts are constantly changing hands. You can access the same account from more than one merchant.

Devumi acquired bots from various manufacturers depending on price, quality and reliability. Online Peakerr high-quality English-speaking bot with photos worth 1 dollar. Devumi takes 17 dollars.

The price difference allowed Kalas to make a fortune. In just a few years, the company sold about 200 to millions of followers on Twitter to at least 39 to thousands of customers — a third of over $ 6 million in sales over the reporting period.

Last month, Mr. Kalas asked journalists to provide examples of bots that copy data from real users. Having received links to more than a dozen accounts, Kalas, who had previously agreed to the interview, asked for more time to analyze the information. Then the entrepreneur stopped responding to letters.

Spokesperson Twitter Miss Binns said the company is not actively monitoring accounts to determine if they are borrowing data from other users. Instead, efforts are made to identify and freeze accounts that violate the spam policy.

The company has frozen an account Devumi after the publication of the article. However, it did not apply obvious simple security measures that could prevent bots manufacturers, such as the requirement for everyone who wants to register a new account to pass an anti-spam test (this is implemented on many commercial sites). As a result, Twitter teems with unused accounts - including, probably temporarily, inactive accounts, controlled by the creators of bots.

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