'All Of My TikTok Followers Are Fake'

An anonymous reader shares a report: The followers poured in. Then the likes. Then tens of thousands of people watched my TikTok video. The clip itself was of a few Motherboard staffers winning a match in the hugely popular game Call of Duty: Warzone; TikTok is full of streamers and players uploading their wins or soul-crushing loses. The video itself isn't good -- there's no slick editing, no captivating TikTok personality talking to camera, and certainly no dancing -- but in a few short hours the video accumulated 25,000 views and over 1,000 likes. This is very little engagement compared to the most popular videos on TikTok, but it's not bad for my first ever clip uploaded to the platform. The video climbed through the rankings of one of the Warzone-related hashtags people use to share their games.

But most of that engagement was fake. I bought the TikTok followers, likes, and views from a website that offers them all for sale. For around $50 in total I had artificially inflated the popularity of my TikTok clip, and, although my video certainly isn't about to go viral, potentially increased the chance for unsuspecting TikTok users to see it themselves. The news comes amid increased attention on TikTok, including not-yet-publicly verified claims from the Trump administration that the app poses a national security risk. Last week President Trump signed an executive order that would ban TikTok from the United States if the company isn't bought by an American company. TikTok plans to sue in response as early as this week, NPR reported. Microsoft is in talks to purchase TikTok.

No reason to single out TikTok here

[The MAZZTer]

You can do this on pretty much any social media platform.

Re:

[Z00L00K]

Somehow I'm not surprised, and it's not limited to social media, it also applies to review sites like Yelp.

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[Narcocide]

You know, everyone knows that you know more about this topic than you're saying, but nobody thinks to ask you. Well, so? Care to weigh in on the scourge of fake TikTok followers-for-hire?

Re:No reason to single out TikTok here

[niftydude]

Kinda reminds me of recording studios buying their own albums so they hit the charts.

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[h33t l4x0r]

More like paying radio stations for airtime, the original payola.

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[gl4ss]

buying the radio station was easier in the end though.

then you pay yourself for playing your songs on the radio so that people buy them.

anyway buying fake views is a pretty long thing.

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[Darinbob]

Is money made on tiktok videos? Who cares how many watch a video if there's no income? The only time I saw tiktok there were no ads.

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[arglebargle_xiv]

Is that guy sleeping over there?
Yeah, the one next to the girl with no shoes on
That's so ratchet
That girl is such a fake model
She definitely bought all her Instagram^H^H^HTikTok followers

Re:

[cayenne8]

Kinda reminds me of recording studios buying their own albums so they hit the charts.

I"m guessing this was done by studios to get the albums more exposure to hope to sell more of them, right?

If so, Ok, I can understand the motivation.

but with this TikTok....why do this?

Do people earn money for views on TikTok or is it just a popularity contest?

If it isn't for money, then I don't see the motivation for "buying" followers...spending money JUST to get "likes"?

Why?

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[drinkypoo]

Top social media influencers make lots of money advertising, and that income is predicated upon their having an audience. Map drawn.

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[NFN_NLN]

> Do people earn money for views on TikTok or is it just a popularity contest?

Do people with arts degrees ever make enough additional income in their field to justify the cost of the original degree?

1. Hype something as useful to their career
2. Charge people for it
3. --- Make sure a few rubes are successful and advertise that success
4. Profit off rubes

Re: No reason to single out TikTok here

[NagrothAgain]

You don't earn money directly, but just like with Twitter and other social platforms if you can get enough people to follow you, then you're an "influencer." Which means you're popular enough that advertisers may want to pay you to promote their brands. It may seem silly on the surface, but it's actually quite effective. If the Kardashians put up a post saying "go buy this useless bauble" there will literally be tens of millions of brainless idiots rushing out to buy it.

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[Actually, I do RTFA]

That's what the Kardashians have told advertisers to get paid, but it's unclear whether those numbers actually hold up.

In the meantime, if I'm an avid viewer of a YouTube channel about a specialty hobby, where I get advice and other information that helps me in the same hobby, I'm likely to consider any product they personally recommend.

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[tlhIngan]

That's what the Kardashians have told advertisers to get paid, but it's unclear whether those numbers actually hold up.

In the meantime, if I'm an avid viewer of a YouTube channel about a specialty hobby, where I get advice and other information that helps me in the same hobby, I'm likely to consider any product they personally recommend.

Social media influencers basically exploit the one arm of marketing that's hard to actually achieve - viral marketing. This is where one friend tells another about a product

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[Actually, I do RTFA]

But as you said, you'd buy products your favorite YouTuber might recommend

Slight correction, I said I might buy products a YouTuber recommends within a hobby that I take advice from them about. That is, it's not because I like them as a celebrity but because I respect them as an expert in a shared interest. The difference is slight but exists.

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[cayenne8]

You don't earn money directly, but just like with Twitter and other social platforms if you can get enough people to follow you, then you're an "influencer." Which means you're popular enough that advertisers may want to pay you to promote their brands. It may seem silly on the surface, but it's actually quite effective. If the Kardashians put up a post saying "go buy this useless bauble" there will literally be tens of millions of brainless idiots rushing out to buy it.

Thank you for the explanation, that

Buy anything you want

[rapjr]

If you're willing to spend say $100 million on such services how far you could you go in taking over mindshare? Are billionaires and multimillionaires (and governments) involved in a big covert game of rigging the world to align with their interests? They are obviously doing this openly in many ways, but it would be interesting to know how much is going on behind the scenes with things like buying hackers to attack competitors, sabotage, subversion, obstruction, disruption, and destruction. There are occ

Re: No reason to single out TikTok here

[BAReFO0t]

I've seen it for IMDB and Slashdot, literally decades ago!

The writer is just ... pathetic.

Re: No reason to single out TikTok here

[t4eXanadu]

Don't forget Amazon! Companies that will send you 20-50$ anazon gift cards or other perks and gifts if you leave 5 star reviews. It's becoming increasingly common.

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[Darinbob]

I do recall back in the day bashing Microsoft on USENET, then someone from Microsoft sent me a free O'Reilly Linux book. I scratched my head over that, but kept the book as it was pretty good.

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[LatencyKills]

As an independent author, I continually get offers to purchase 5* reviews on Amazon and Goodreads for my books. If you buy in bulk, it comes down to about a nickel a review.

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[rtb61]

Every review site gets hoards of 5 out of 5 does not matter what they do. Even if they require proof of purchases, companies just buy their own products and give them top reviews.

This is just more US fabricated PR=B$ that's not a journalist (completely ignores everyone else doing it, that is a government propagandist, maybe even an agent rather than just a shite journalists and they only way they can get ahead is to get paid to spread propaganda).

The worst offenders are the biggest Youtube and Facebook, tho

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[Opportunist]

But TikTok is teh evilz now and we need to bash it for something.

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[fustakrakich]

Yeah, but it's China and campaign season, catchy name, makes a good distraction from all the dead people

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[AmiMoJo]

It would be news if TikTok had found a way to stop it.

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[Dunbal]

Tik Tok probably owns the click farm...

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[Baloo Uriza]

Well, at least the commercial ones. The FOSS-based ones like the fediverse tend to be better moderated and lack the incentive to drive numbers like that. Quality over quantity.

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[Shaitan]

Yes, but the other social media platforms aren't under the control of a hostile foreign power with a historical lack of ethics and abuse of their own population. They don't just threaten the nation itself but the Chinese government is a threat to individual freedom, autonomy, and representation.

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[Darinbob]

Pay me, and I'll watch your video. If I see any ads, you have to pay me double though.

Or real life

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Heck, there are even politicians who paid crowds to show up at speeches. Or lobbyists people to speak in town hall meetings.

Please send $50

[gavron]

Since you seem to have half a hundo to spare, please send $50.

I won't follow you on Tik Tok or anything else and you will have gained exactly the same (0 real followers) for the same price, but I will have $50.

Don't delay - act now.

E

Very old not-news

[Morpeth]

Buying likes, followers, thumbs up, positive reviews, etc. has been going on for ages -- even before social media.

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[CRC'99]

That's a great comment.

I'd like to give you this free product from Amazon... Just buy it, post your review and then I'll give you a refund...

Thanks.

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[Morpeth]

Exactly, and think how many "give us a "like", or follow us on x,y,z and we'll give you x dollars off your next purchase" emails you've received too. I don't have any feeling towards TikTok either way, but this kind of thing is so common now I'm surprised someone thought it was worth posting/writing about at this point.

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[Dunbal]

If you have huge tits and a revealing top you don't even need to buy the clicks...

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[I've Got Three Cats]

No kidding. You can buy likes and views from vending machines for christ sake, and that was already a few years ago.

Just another piece of anti-TikTok propaganda.

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Buying fake users/views/comments has been a staple since people started counting these things, and the prices are quite close for every service out there.

TikTok is singled out only because the current US administration is trying to get them to sell their pretty successful site to selected US bidders cheaply.

US companies are totally pro-"free trade" and fully respect the "IP" of the rest of the world when it suits them, and when it doesn't, they try to take over with just a little help from their government.

One wonders what is the quid pro quo.

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[Basje]

Goodhart's law. When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

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[running_out_of_steam]

You can bring politics into this - and blame the administration, and that's fine; lots of missteps there. You can also get your head out of the sand and take a look at the world and ask yourself, is X a good thing for my country, the world - regardless of whatever bullshit reason my administration has claimed? Read this: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia... [scmp.com] (TikTok censored anti-Beijing content in Indonesia per request from Bytedance Beijing). If you own a large company it is compulsory to hire a card-carry

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[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Shrug. It is you who brings politics into this, the perspective of my comment was the business side, and it is pretty obvious - the US companies are losing to the competition and are trying to snatch the successful business from its owners. When they can't do it on their own, they ask for help, like they've done since the age of the "gunboat diplomacy".

Re: Just another piece of anti-TikTok propaganda.

[Type44Q]

I'm guessing you're not from the US.

Would that be because he tries so hard to impersonate a CCP* shill??

*Personally, I tend not to like the US gov't all that much and I consider myself objectively receptive to the arguments of its enemies... too bad they always demonstrate themselves to be even (far) worse.

You'll want to sit down for this one...

[h33t l4x0r]

I've heard tales of websites paying Google to get their website to the top!

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[itsme1234]

For the right money you can get a full page in some newspapers! Shock and horror!

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[Opportunist]

I have a cool marketing idea. We could call it "Search Engine Restult Improvement" and charge money from companies so their webpage appears closer to the top spot when people look for certain search strings. We could make millions!

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[Required Snark]

Trump 2020 - The Republican President who thinks you should drink bleach.

not just an issue with tiktok but twitter, etc.

[Anonymous Coward]

Post fake news, then buy tons followers to pump up the fake news on twitter has been a business model for quite awhile.

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[JustAnotherOldGuy]

That's how we ended up with Agent Orange in the White House....he paid people to attend his 'announcement' that he was running for president, and fuck all if it didn't work.

People took him seriously because they thought other people took him seriously. It totally got him over the "But he's a clown!" hump.

And?

[ledow]

How's that different to Twitter or anywhere else?

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

On the up-side

[nagora]

Nobody that cares about how many followers you have matters.

Re: On the up-side

[BAReFO0t]

Tell that to Hitler! ;)

Re: On the up-side

[ToasterMonkey]

I think the situation is more subtle than that. It could be less to do with showing what you are than what you aren't. Having something to start with implies you aren't a nobody, and that distinction registers with people more than having more or most.

Like the starting number on a new checkbook.
https://www.quora.com/My-bank-... [quora.com]

Or when you're picking a browser plugin from a half dozen that do the same thing, the ones below a threshold are right out because nobody uses them. Most people would do something

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[nagora]

I think the situation is more subtle than that. It could be less to do with showing what you are than what you aren't. Having something to start with implies you aren't a nobody

Being somebody on TikTock is only a simulation of actually being somebody.

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[drinkypoo]

Nobody that cares about how many followers you have matters.

Unless they're paying you to astroturf because you have lots of followers.

Then they matter a lot.

Did you forget about capitalism?

Your first mistake . . .

[OneSmartFellow]

. . . was to imagine anyone cares about TikTok.

If it weren't for the Executive Order, most people wouldn't have known about it. And, now that they do, they still don't care.

Who wants to look at really stupid people videoing themselves looking into a mirror, imagining that they will be famous for their stupidity

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[CubicleZombie]

I had never heard of it and still have no idea what it is.

I also have no idea why anyone would want to watch someone else play a video game.

So what?

[DrXym]

Every social media platform suffers from this bullshit because there are people/companies/products so desperate for likes that they'll pay for them from shills and bots. Same goes for Amazon and other retail platforms. Same goes for people trying to hawk books, music, art, games etc.

Every platform has the means to flag suspicious activity but how many of them bother? I bet many of them even have a deliberate policy of turning a blind eye to all but the most egregious abuses because it allows them to infla

WTF, you misleading asshole!

[BAReFO0t]

The headline deliberately implies that if you use TikTok (which I can't stand, btw), your followery may be fake, because TikTok.

Then you describe an ancient process, where YOU bought the fake followers, that has been used for literally decades on literally all platforms that allow voting/liking/reviewing/etc, and has nothing whatsoever specifically to do with TikTok.

TikTok may be cancer and shit, but you, my "friend", by lowering yourself even below that ... way below that ... are now officially more cancer and shit than it. Did you really think we wouldn't see through this pathetic scheme? Even your massa, Trump, would facepalm right now.

Go away, back to the ball o cancer you came from. (You are welcome to take TikTok and Trump with you.)
And leave us in the real world of stuff that matters alone.

It's called business

[Joe2020]

It's the very thing that drives capitalism.

Your bought followers are no more fake than all the brainless idiots, morons and trolls you get on the Internet everyday. At least when you have bought yourself some popularity do people start acting more intelligently in order not to stick out and that's worth something.

Same rubbish...

[keithdowsett]

To the people who sell products this way:

You can pay to improve your position on Google..

.. then pay to get 'likes' for your product videos on YouTube / Tiktok..

.. then pay some more to get on the front page on Amazon..

.. then pay again to get some fake reviews for your products.

So why can't you afford to do some quality control on the rubbish you sell? Why is it always either broken or useless?? And don't get me started on trying to get a refund!!

Streamers?

[Cmdln Daco]

One of the positive things I have noticed about TikTok is that few 'videos' are tedious captures of somebody playing a video game.

I never get it why I should want to watch somebody else playing videogames. Are there videos of people in resturants eating? Videos of some dude mowing the lawn?

TikTok videos are short shots of somebody or something interesting or novel. Otherwise you just swipe up.

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[omnichad]

Are there videos of people in resturants eating?

There's almost certainly video of people eating at home. Have you never heard of muk bang?

What?

[Dunbal]

I don't get it. Dude buys fake clicks and likes, then complains that all his clicks and likes are fake...? Yeah and I put diesel in my gasoline tank and now my gasoline engine won't work...

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[Darinbob]

I don't think he was complaining about it. He was basically showing that you can indeed buy fake likes and make even a bad video from an unknown look popular.

Sssh! Don't mention it!

[coofercat]

If I can't buy stuff like this, I'll never get a +5 on slashdot :-(

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[WallyL]

I promise I was not paid to up-vote this!

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[drew_kime]

I promise I was not paid to up-vote this!

I was. Oh crap, commenting just wiped out my mod and I lost my payment!

Hunh?

[Shaitan]

"amid increased attention on TikTok, including not-yet-publicly verified claims from the Trump administration that the app poses a national security risk"

This isn't sensible, social media innately poses a security risk to users with the way these platforms gather data. TikTok is in a hostile communist country there is no free market, everything is subject to the state. It isn't as if there is some secret smoking gun needed to establish the national security risk here. Trumps kid uses TikTok, they gather dat

How is this news?

[Holi]

who ok'd this filler content. other then the fact the author is talking about TikTok there is no relevant news here, to anything.

Boo Hoo

[Retired ICS]

Lets have a pity party for the fucking stupid arseholes that think there is any worth in having followers ...

Stop the presses

[ceg97]

The internet contains false information. Who knew?