Facebook being Flooded with GOP Spam Accounts - Rise of the FacePatriots?
It seems since Digg has pretty much died, Facebook has become the main hub for right-wing spammers. As the election grows closer, these 'FacePatriots' are making a push to swing popular opinion to their point of view by leaving thousands of comments throughout facebook.
This morning I spotted this political pic in my stream. 5 out of the 8 first comments were from 'fake accounts'. I explain below how to determine to a reasonable amount of certainty whether an account is fake. What does this mean? This means that one person can leave dozens of comments under different accounts. A propagandists dream scenario.
The reason this post mentions GOP Spam Accounts is because that is what I have found. If you discover the same tactic on the other side, leave a comment. Until proven otherwise, this appears to be a Republican phenomenon.
How does it work?
To open a Facebook account, you basically just need an email account. This means the number of accounts that one person could open is almost limitless. Only in extreme cases would Facebook look into the number of profiles associated with a single IP Address (your computer connection's address).
Once you have opened a page, upload a few pictures, enter the minimum amount of information, set your privacy settings to show the minimum amount of information and now all you need are some friends. Friends are easy to get on Facebook. First, LIKE all of your own fake accounts - this will create your own little community. Then you can 'purchase' some additional friends. There are services on the web where you can add hundreds of friends for less than $20. These friends will be from the pool of fake profiles on Facebook. These 'fake' profiles will have connections to 'real' profiles too - some people friend people with common names. This opens the door to the rest of the world. The friends of friends is the place it becomes political.
For the remainder of the post - http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/facebook-flooded-with-gop-spam-accounts/
= new reply since forum marked as read
to skew public opinion using sock puppets to create fake issues & create fake support ("look how many people are saying..."
for repub agendas.
grassroots, either. Bet on it!
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