‘Botmageddon’: Surge in anonymous Asia Twitter accounts sparks fears of social media manipulation
22 April 2018 10:59
5 min read
It has been being jokingly referred to as “Botmageddon”. But a surge in new, anonymous Twitter accounts across swathes of Southeast and East Asia has deepened fears the region is in the throes of US-style mass social media manipulation.
Maya Gilliss-Chapman, a Cambodian tech entrepreneur currently working in Silicon Valley, noticed something odd was happening in early April.
Her Twitter account @MayaGC was being swamped by a daily deluge of follows from new users.
“I acquired well over 1,000 new followers since the beginning of March. So, that’s approximately a 227 percent increase in just a month,” she told AFP.
While many might delight in such a popularity spike, Gilliss-Chapman, who has previously worked for tech companies to root out spam, was immediately suspicious.
The vast majority of these new accounts contained no identifying photograph and had barely tweeted since their creation.
But they all seemed to be following prominent Twitter users in Cambodia including journalists, business figures, academics and celebrities. .....
The rest of the article is linked below
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/04/22/botmageddon-surge-anonymous-asia-twitter-accounts-sparks-fears-social-media-manipulation/
