SOCIAL media rules these days. The various virtual social media platforms have practically allowed us to have the world at our fingertips. I often wonder, seriously, what were we all doing prior to social media?
Famous social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and more. Honestly, it’s hard to keep track of the latest platforms these days, but most of us still do latch on to popular ones.
There is no discrimination of ages on social media platforms. Once hooked, there’s no going back for most of us.
The thrill of showing off our abilities and the rise of followers make these platforms addictive. While we may not be exactly rich or popular in the real world, we do secretly feel pleased if our profiles are followed by hundreds, if not thousands, of followers.
Due to the popularity of social media, there is also the issue of the rise of fake accounts.
There are 1.71 billion monthly active users in Facebook reported by Brandwatch.com as of July last year. Of these, the report estimated that 81 million profiles are fakes. It was also reported that six new Facebook profiles are created every second!
Besides Facebook, there are over 400 million users on Instagram, 320 million users on Twitter, 1.12 billion users on WeChat, over one billion users on YouTube and more, according to the Brandwatch report.
These are astounding numbers, so imagine the possibility of how many fake accounts are created each year.
People create fake accounts for many reasons, I suppose. Some say influence is the new currency in the virtual world.
When one has a huge number of followers, there is the power of knowing that your influence makes a big difference, even if it’s in the virtual world.
Social media influencers are paid big money these days. Brand influencers and celebrities are pressured to have or maintain a high number of followers in the real world, as well as online. Many also need to continuously show an increasing number of followers to maintain their popularity.
I suppose all this has led to them “buying” their followers. Truth be told, it’s not easy gaining or maintaining social media followers. I mean, have you seriously tried increasing your Instagram followers?
It’s serious work for some. One needs to constantly have creative and daily postings, proper tagging, interesting words and conversation pieces, quick responses and more to keep hungry followers in your account.
There are really those who do put in extra effort on their social media accounts to gain their status and followers the right way.
There’s a lot of work and effort involved and even then, many do not get that lucky.
Buying fake followers is the easy way out. Bots are created to allow users to buy these fake “followers”.
You just pay a minimal fee and wham bam, suddenly your social media account has a following that rival some movie stars. Works out great, right?
You get your followers and you leave all the effort to these services, plus not to say you might get paid now with more advertorial or campaign work from famous brands.
Have you ever stopped to think for one minute that you are actually cheating people with these fake accounts and followers?
Okay, so this may not even seem serious since it won’t hurt anyone physically. But will these intentional fake impressions last long or do any good for your image once word gets out?
Brands and companies need to also understand that followers and audience size do not equal engagement or business profits with such fake social media followers.
Then there’s also the fake social media accounts that are created for harmful intentions, like online abuse, phishing to steal personal information, identity theft, financial theft and more.
The list is endless as to why fake social media accounts exist and will continue to rise.
The fact that one is hiding behind a fake image already is deemed wrong and certainly an offence no matter how harmless the intention may be.
According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), fake social media accounts are actually an offence under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 to make or create content that is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in nature.
While social media companies are doing their best to identify and trace fake social media accounts, it is a social responsibility in each of us to take measures to report of such accounts to the authorities.
We cannot let these fake social media accounts continue to rise. It’s much more serious than we acknowledge and while it may be harmless to some who just need a huge number of followers for influence purposes, it is still misleading others intentionally for their own benefit.
Fake social media accounts are just a nuisance since it causes more harm than any good at all.
Unless there is justifiable reasons to use fake social media accounts for good intentions, such as law enforcers using it to try and nab criminals, it is and will always be a cowardly act of hiding behind a fake image for an individual’s own benefit.
AHMAD KUSHAIRI is editor of BOTs, the weekly tech section in Life&Times. Trained in Maths, he has since traded his problem-solving skills with writing about how tech has helped to transform the world for the better.