CAPE TOWN - According to New York’s chief prosecutor, the state is opening an investigation into a firm that allegedly sold millions of fake followers to social media users.

The company under investigation is social media marketing company, Devumi. The marketing company is accused of snatching people’s identities. This comes after the New York Times on Saturday published a report on Devumi which includes interviews from people who allege their account details and profile pictures had been copied to create realistic “bots”.

It is alleged that actors, entrepreneurs and even political commentators could increase their follower count by paying for the “bots”. It is reported that a high follower account on social media can bring about advantages such as sponsorship deals and job offers.

New York's chief prosecutor, Eric Schneiderman said he was worried that such “opaque” operations were eroding democracy. On its website, Devumi offers customers the chance to order up to 250,000 Twitter followers, with prices starting at R143.73. Clients can also buy "likes" and retweets.

The social media company, sells followers on a range of other platforms. These include Pinterest, LinkedIn, Soundcloud and YouTube. Although the company is registered at a New York City address, the New York Times allege that it is a front, with its actual offices based in Florida and employing workers in the Philippines.

Twitter has since responded, saying that it is working to stop Devumi and similar companies.

The tactics used by Devumi on our platform and others as described by today's NYT article violate our policies and are unnacceptable to us. We are working to stop them and any companies like them.

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) January 27, 2018

In the past, Twitter has allegedly dismissed bot investigations as “inaccurate and methodologically flawed”. According to the report, Devumi allegedly has on average 3.5 million automated accounts, some of which have been sold repeatedly.

The report further alleges that at least 55 000 of the accounts "use the names, profile pictures, hometowns and other personal details of real Twitter users, including minors".

"These accounts are counterfeit coins in the booming economy of online influence, reaching into virtually any industry where a mass audience — or the illusion of it — can be monetized. Fake accounts, deployed by governments, criminals and entrepreneurs, now infest social media networks," they wrote.

Some well-known Twitter accounts have followers from the Devumi “factory”. The report says that Entrepreneur and member of the UK's House of Lords, Martha Lane Fox’s account had been linked to the fake bots.

Fox’s account showed "a series of follower purchases spanning more than a year", including a 25,000-follower boost days after she became a Twitter board member in April 2016. She told the New York Times a "rogue employee" was responsible.

Also, British TV chef, Paul Hollywood was linked to the Devumi bots. The investigation reportedly shows Devumi-managed bots following Hollywood’s official Twitter profile.

When the paper emailed him with questions, his account was then deleted. Political commentator, Hilary Rosen has allegedly paid for over 500 000 Twitter followers, however most have been deleted.

According to Rosen, she said it was "an experiment I did several years ago to see how it worked". Also, US iron worker, turned politician, Randy Bryce on Saturday said on Twitter that he bought the followers as an experiment in 2015, when he was a blogger.

Meanwhile, Facebook announced its plans this month to prioritise more trustworthy news sources on Facebook. According to Zuckerberg, this change was made in a bid to shun “misinformation” and “polarisation”.

“Today I'm sharing our second major update this year: to make sure the news you see, while less overall, is high quality. I've asked our product teams to make sure we prioritize news that is trustworthy, informative, and local. And we're starting next week with trusted sources”, said Zuckerberg.

The group said that they would ask the social network community to discern which news outlets are reliable, as this would be more objective.

This will be done by means of user surveys. While news content would soon comprise of approximately 4% of what appears in people’s News Feeds instead of 5%, the new update will not change the amount of news you see on Facebook, said the group.

The move is the latest effort by the group to overcome the dissemination of so called fake news. “My hope is that this update about trusted news and last week's update about meaningful interactions will help make time on Facebook time well spent: where we're strengthening our relationships, engaging in active conversations rather than passive consumption, and, when we read news, making sure it's from high quality and trusted sources”, said Zuckerberg’s post.

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- BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE