New York Attorney General launches investigation into fake follower factory Devmi

Last weekend, the New York Times published a detailed investigative report on Devmi. In case you missed the study, Devumi is a US-based company that sells fake followers to social media users. Following this extensive report, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that he had opened an investigation into Devmi.

Schneiderman said impersonation and deception are illegal under New York state law and that he will launch an investigation into Devumi and its “apparent sale of bots using stolen identities.”

https://twitter.com/AGSchneiderman/status/957289783490957312

The use of automated bots and accounts on social media platforms is not new to us. We saw how these bots played a huge role in the 2016 US presidential election. Having said that, Devmi has remained mum so far and we are still waiting for comments.

This is not the first time Schneiderman has taken legal action against someone. Last December, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sued to uphold net neutrality regulations after the agency voted to repeal them. Apparently, he discovered about 2 million false comments submitted to the FCC during the regulatory public comment period.

Growing followers on social media platforms is not the best thing to do, but Devumi is the one to blame here. The NYTimes investigation details how Devumi created fake accounts of real people on the platform. Devumi’s clients include actor John Leguizamo, computer billionaire Michael Dell, former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, and former swimsuit model and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland.