纽约州总检察长史树德开始调查一家据称向社交媒体用户出售了两亿多僵尸粉的公司。
纽约时报报道，Devumi公司向名人、体育明星和政界人士出售了两亿多僵尸粉。
纽约总检察长史树德(Eric Schneiderman)说：“根据纽约州法律，假冒和欺诈是违法行为。我们开始调查Devumi公司。看来这家公司用盗窃的用户信息出售了僵尸粉。”
《纽约时报》报道，至少有5万5000人的推特信息被猎取，包括用户名、照片、居住地点以及其它一些详细信息。《纽约时报》说，被盗窃信息的用户来自美国50个州和几十个国家。
史树德说：“日益增多的僵尸粉意味着公共对话中的真正声音被淹没。那些能出大价钱购买僵尸粉的人能够用钱换取影响力。”
在社交媒体上，拥有大量粉丝意味着更大的影响和曝光度，能影响公众舆论，还经常能给这些高粉丝用户带来回报丰厚的签约。
Devumi公司在其网站上可让客户购买各社交媒体平台的最多50万僵尸粉，包括推特(Twitter)、Youtube、领英(LinkedIn)、缤趣(Pinterest)、和Vimeo，价格从12美元起。
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched an investigation of a firm that allegedly sold millions of fake followers to social media users.
The company, Devumi, sold more than 200 million fake followers, or bots, to celebrities, sports stars, and politicians, The New York Times reported.
“Impersonation and deception are illegal under New York law,” Schneiderman tweeted. “We are opening an investigation into Devumi and its apparent sale of bots using stolen identities.”
The Times reported that at least 55,000 of the bot accounts names, pictures, hometowns and other details taken from people on Twitter. The information was stolen from people in every U.S. state as well as dozens of countries, The Times said.
“The growing prevalence of bots means that real voices are too often drowned out in public conversation,” Schneiderman said. “Those who can pay the most for followers can buy their way to apparent influence.”
On social media, high follower numbers means greater influence and visibility, which can impact public opinion and offer lucrative financial deals for the account holders.
On its website, Devumi offers customers the chance to buy up to 500,000 followers for social media sites including Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Vimeo, with prices starting at as little as $12.