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5 tweets,
1 min read
Read on Twitter
Okay, you know those "cute" promoted Tweets where some random person with 17 followers is saying "I had mac and cheese today"? They're used to bolster fake profiles. Here's how it works. 1/x
A Tweet with a lot of likes makes an account look legitimate, so when someone sees this account frothing at the mouth about how they love Del Taco, vaping, acid-wash jeans or some political policy, you'll believe they're real. 2/x
These innocuous Tweets with lots of likes will also make it look legitimate if the fake account says that Friendly's puts rats in their burgers, or gets enraged over a new Starbucks drink, or is furious over a political policy. They look like a real person, not a PR puppet. 3/x
Users are getting better at detecting fake accounts. This means people creating fake accounts have to make them look more real. Promoting a sad Tweet about lunch is likely to get likes, even followers. Then the fake account looks like a real person, not a bot. 4/x
TL;DR: Those "cute" promoted tweets about lunch or nailpolish from accounts with few followers? Are used to make fake/bot accounts look real and get their stuff to turn up in your feed. They're gaming Twitter's system.
Do not click "like." Instead, click "block." 5/5
Do not click "like." Instead, click "block." 5/5
