An investigation has been started against companies selling fake social media followers. After a story in The New York Times, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman announced that he has opened an investigation into the company featured in the article, Devumi.
After confirmation from major social media sites about the usage of such bots for influence of different occasions like presidential elections, these investigations have become very important. Last November, Schneiderman revealed that his office was investigating comments left by fake accounts on the FCC’s website that impersonated real people during the Net Neutrality open comments process.
There are a large number of companies that provide fake followers to paying customers. Among these customers are athletes, actors, politicians, and influencers who seek to increase their social media footprint. Any user can buy around 200 million Twitter followers and then can retweet and like his posts to get noticed and make an influence on the social media.