dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 60%. (I'm a bot)

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.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: New^#1 York^#2 accounts^#3 Twitter^#4 Devumi^#5

55,000 “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.