The
New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, on Saturday opened an
investigation into a company that sold millions of fake followers on
social media platforms, some of them copying real users’ personal
information.
The
company, Devumi, and its sale of automated followers to a swath of
celebrities, sports stars, journalists and politicians, was detailed in a New York Times article published earlier on Saturday.
While based in Florida, Devumi claims on its website to be based in New York City.
At
least 55,000 of its “bot” accounts used names, pictures, hometowns and
other details taken from people on Twitter. The real users hailed from
every U.S. state, including New York, and dozens of countries, a Times
analysis found.
“Impersonation and deception are illegal under New York law,” Mr. Schneiderman wrote on Twitter. “We’re opening an investigation into Devumi and its apparent sale of bots using stolen identities.”
The
investigation is the latest in a series of federal and state inquiries
into the commercial and political abuse of fake accounts on social
media. Tens of millions of fake accounts have been deployed to defraud
businesses, influence political debates online and attract customers.
Social
media companies, including Twitter and Facebook, have drawn intense
scrutiny for not taking greater steps to weed them out. Many of the
accounts identified by The Times appear to violate Twitter’s own
policies, but remained active on the social media platform for years,
each retweeting and promoting Devumi customers.
“The
tactics used by Devumi on our platform and others as described by
today’s NYT article violate our policies and are unacceptable to us,”
Twitter said in a message posted on its media relations account on
Saturday.
Mr.
Schneiderman, who was first elected in 2010, has brought a series of
cases focused on the emerging world of online fraud, impersonation and
abuse. In December, he began an investigation into how the Federal
Communications Commission was flooded with millions of fake comments
on a proposal to scrap so-called net neutrality rules. Many of the
comments used names and addresses borrowed from real people, almost
always without their knowledge.
“The
internet should be one of the greatest tools for democracy — but it’s
increasingly being turned into an opaque, pay-to-play playground,” Mr.
Schneiderman said.
