UPDATED -- Most recent Twitter audit shows over 2 million of Hillary Clinton's followers are fake

[Android3.14]

Last edited Sat Jan 9, 2016, 05:51 PM - Edit history (3)

Over 40 percent of her Twitter Followers are fake, as of the latest audit.
https://www.twitteraudit.com/HillaryClinton

I saw an article from April of 2015 which I posted without realizing how old it was. Here is the more recent data, and it shows her fake following has only grown.

This speaks directly to whether we can trust anything she says and the track record of making poor decisions when she is in positions of power.

By the way, Bernie Sanders has 90% real followers
https://www.twitteraudit.com/BernieSanders

After doing a little bit of research, here are the audits of all the nominees. I did audits on the twitter feeds listed on the VoteSmart.com page.

Candidate___________Real________Fake____________% Real

SenSanders__________1,050,027____119,268__________90%
O'Malley_____________104,911_____13,365__________89%
Clinton______________2,994,545____2,055,278________59%

Jim Gilmore__________2,439________181_____________93%
Rick Santorum________208,286______42,661__________83%
Mike Huckabee_______341,779_______88,673__________79%
Rand Paul___________556,027_______151,387_________79%
Ben Carson__________554,865_____172,350_________76%
John Kasich__________112,530_____35,926__________76%
Ted Cruz____________518,476_____171,905_________75%
Marco Rubio_________778,387_____266,428_________74%
Jeb Bush____________276,762_____129,048_________68%
Donald Trump________2,942,607___1,669,630________64%
Christ Christie________29,651______38,828__________43%

And for those who are interested
demunderground______5,012_______466_____________92%

[Wilms]

1. .

[Helen Borg]

43. Is this picture from the HRC farm?

[JoePhilly]

2. Oh noes!!!!!

Bernie's definitely going to win now.

[reformist2]

3. Any info regarding who makes all these fake followers? It really reflects badly on her campaign.

[Bradical79]

21. Might of hired a social media advertising firm? Or not her at all.

It's my understanding that it's not that uncommon of a tactic in advertising. Or it could be fake twitter users following from another source using her high profile account for their own advertising. Just googling fake twitter followers gives a headline of Barack Obama having over 19 million fake accounts following his twitter :-P Fake twitter accounts is pretty big business.

[passiveporcupine]

47. Agreed

As much as I would love to say this is her fault...I doubt she has anything to do with it.

[Android3.14]

79. Good observation

You gave me an idea and I have updated the OP to add more information

[CoffeeCat]

24. It's a short-sighted tactic that can backfire

Last edited Sat Jan 9, 2016, 04:18 PM - Edit history (1)

In the short-run, having those fake numbers may help prop up the appearance of popularity.

But the downside is so great. Why do this? It's not worth the risk of being exposed as a poser and a liar.

Furthermore, fakery like this is easily exposed. Due to the nature of the Internet, it's almost certain to be exposed.

Why risk the near certainty of being exposed as a liar--so some people, for a short amount of time, are convinced that you had a certain number of Twitter followers?

[floriduck]

45. Just one more example

of poor decision making judgment Hill has. Just like opening herself up to criticism or more for using a personal email account and Non-DOS server. People who have a history of poor decisions repeat those poor decisions.

Voters beware!

[Agschmid]

66. Having fake followers was her "decision making"?

Please explain how.

[floriduck]

73. I believe there is a high likelihood

that her campaign had a lot to do with creating the fake followers to give the impression she had even more supporters than there really were. And I doubt she would be clueless as to that activity if it occurred. Can I verify this? No. But you can't prove otherwise either.

[Agschmid]

75. Such a ridiculous assertion.

Have at it.

[Blue_Adept]

83. But it's the Hillary supporters that are delusional

Check.

[senz]

25. Everything about her campaign is astroturf.

[yeoman6987]

28. And yet I am still voting for her

This is the last thing I base my decision on. Twitter accounts and followers? Who cares. Twitter is for getting information out so 2 million followers don't get important info. The others will.

[NJCher]

32. urm

I think it's a deeper issue than Twitter followers. It's an issue of honesty.

But if I have to tell you that, there's not much hope that you'll gravitate to a more serious thought process.

Why do I waste my time?






Cher

[Agschmid]

34. I have fake Instagram followers, I didn't ask for them, and didn't pay for them.

I block them when I see them, but it's not my fault.

[NJCher]

36. really?

Why would anyone do that?




Cher

[passiveporcupine]

51. Answered right here in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251987826#post21

post 21

[NJCher]

69. see this, at the NY Times

Explains about fake Twitter accounts. Apparently there is some money in this.

Andrea Stroppa and Carlo De Micheli, two Italian security researchers, spent the last several months investigating the underground economy for Twitter followers and said they had found a thriving market.

There are now more than two dozen services that sell fake Twitter accounts, but Mr. Stroppa and Mr. De Micheli said they limited themselves to the most popular networks, forums and Web sites, which include Fiverr, SeoClerks, InterTwitter, FanMeNow, LikedSocial, SocialPresence and Viral Media Boost. Based on the number of accounts for sale through those services — and eliminating overlapping accounts — they estimate that there are now as many as 20 million fake follower accounts.

Fake followers are typically sold in batches of one thousand to one million accounts. The average price for 1,000 fake followers is $18, according to one study by Barracuda Labs. Mr. Stroppa and Mr. De Micheli said some sellers bragged that they made $2 and $30 per fake account. A conservative estimate, they said, was that fake Twitter followers offered potential for a $40 million to $360 million business.

More at link:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/fake-twitter-followers-becomes-multimillion-dollar-business/?_r=0


Cher

[Agschmid]

74. Yes we all agree it happens...

But we don't agree that Hillary did this, and we also don't agree that "fake Twitter" users mentioned by the OP as the same thing as bought and paid for fake Teitter followers.

[Agschmid]

65. It's a great question for them... Not me.

But probably marketing.

[yeoman6987]

90. Yeah read what Twitter fakes mean

Now you tell me this is not a BS story. If a person signs up but doesn't tweet it considered fake.

[rhett o rick]

89. I have asked and asked why a Democrat would support H. Clinton clearly an American Aristocrat.

The only real answer is that she is tough as if that's always a good thing. She is tough on marijuana users by not tough on Wall Street thieves.

The point here isn't about twitter followers, it's about integrity. And the problem with the wealthy is that often the use of their wealth gets in the way of their integrity. "Why not just buy some followers?"

[yeoman6987]

91. Madam president Clinton will make this country great

And I can't wait!

[left-of-center2012]

29. "who makes all these fake followers?"

Debbie Wasserman Schultz?

[Xipe Totec]

48. Mechanical Turk

https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome

[NorthCarolina]

4. My account shows 95% legit.

Wonder who the 5% of fake followers are.

[azmom]

5. The empress has no clothes.

Hahaha

[NorthCarolina]

6. Interestingly enough, @DWStweets shows 48% fake followers.

eom

[Proserpina]

7. That's all? I demand a recount!

[Starry Messenger]

8. 2,994,545 of Hillary's followers are real.

978,559 of Bernie's followers are real.

I guess from there we can surmise that 2+ million are not feeling the Bern.

[George II]

41. That's about how they rank in many polls, too.

[Starry Messenger]

44. True!

[uponit7771]

49. Good notice !

[treestar]

9. How does it reflect on her?

There's no proof it is from her direct orders.

How do they determine which accounts are "fake?"

Only Bernie's side is obsessed with things like this, since the real polls have Hillary so far ahead.

[MattSh]

11. Methodology

About TwitterAudit

Each audit takes a random sample of 5000 Twitter followers for a user and calculates a score for each follower. This score is based on number of tweets, date of the last tweet, and ratio of followers to friends. We use these scores to determine whether any given user is real or fake. Of course, this scoring method is not perfect but it is a good way to tell if someone with lots of followers is likely to have increased their follower count by inorganic, fraudulent, or dishonest means.

TwitterAudit is not affiliated with Twitter in any way.

[treestar]

12. Plenty of people will sign up for things and then

leave them and forget about them.

[George II]

58. I have two twitter accounts, signed up only because some software/site wanted me to. But....

....I've never sent a tweet or accessed them again after the particular use was satisfied.

This is just a whole, contrived, bogus "issue".

[BooScout]

17. I guess I am one of the fake ones then...

I joined Twitter only to follow Hillary. For a month or more she was the only account I followed.

[Sunlei]

10. 2.9 million followers who actively use twitter (that 2012 company says non-regular users are fake)

I hate twitter and a cell-phone only internet.

[leftofcool]

13. Translation: I am a social media warrior and I demand pure Twitter followers

[CoffeeCat]

14. We've got to give Hillary points for her consistency. Seriously.

One reason I have so little faith in Hillary is because I experienced her 08 campaign in Iowa. She seems to have this thread of dishonesty and exaggeration woven through her campaigns.

There were so many dishonest, underhanded, ridiculous tactics that her campaign used in 08, in Iowa. It was jarring for Iowans who were used to candidates communicating and connecting with us.

Setting aside some of the more ridiculous gaffes (like commissioning a helicopter which Clinton's campaign dubbed the "Hill-o-copter in which she flew around the state campaigning), she was disgusting in her attacks on Obama and she pulled some dishonest stunts.

She was having trouble connecting with Iowans while Obama was becoming our new best friend. Hillary's response was to organize an Iowa "Q&A" during which she would take random Iowa questions. The event was highly touted as a fresh, open approach for Hillary. Here's video of what her Q&A really was. Everyone in Iowa was outraged. So no, I don't find fake Twitter/FB buys surprising at all.

[BeanMusical]

20. +1

[StevieM]

33. I also remember the media turning this event into Watergate or something like that.

In reality, this is pretty low on the totem poll of wrong doing. It happens all the time in campaigns. Even Chris Matthews, who was openly contemptuous of Hillary in that campaign, admitted that.

Speaking for myself, supporting Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for president was the proudest experience of my life.

[Princess Turandot]

15. 'About TwitterAudit'

This website has nothing to do with twitter.com per the bottom of the page: https://www.twitteraudit.com/
So, they know nothing about any account except public twitter activity. They cannot, for example, determine if 100 accounts are socks of one person coming from the same IP. Per their web site:

Each audit takes a random sample of 5000 Twitter followers for a user and calculates a score for each follower. This score is based on number of tweets, date of the last tweet, and ratio of followers to friends. (They do not define 'tweets' in this paragraph, so it is not clear if 'likes' or 'retweets' count.)

Their 'trueness' is based exclusively on a follower's own activity. This method appears to completely dismiss people who follow folks to read their twitter streams as being 'fake'. So, what they are measuring are accounts that do not engage much with others on twitter. Whether that makes them fakes or not (in the usual sense of the word) is entirely subjective.

[firebrand80]

19. I'm one such twitter user

I never tweet anything. I use it to follow news and such.

[SunSeeker]

35. Me too. nt

[George II]

40. I have two accounts, I don't even know HOW to send a tweet!

[uberblonde]

23. Hush now...

You wouldn't want to spoil that narrative that was so carefully and lovingly constructed!

[emulatorloo]

16. The article you posted before said 46,000 listed their hometowns as Bagdad

Sounds to me more like GOP'er dirty tricks than some HRC 'conspiracy'

[fbc]

18. The twitter followers are an accurate representation of the candidate

FAKE

[senz]

22. LOL - not at all surprising.

Truth has a way of seeping out. And I love that fact.

[tom_kelly]

26. I've never been on the tweeter.

I don't know how it works or what its for and I don't want to. But, I'm a follower and am going to vote for Bernie. Do me a favor and add another number to Bernie's real follower total for me. Thanks!

[AzDar]

27. I've said it before: here in my extremely red pocket of a red state... I've seen ZERO Hillary signs

/bumper stickers etc. ZERO Republican campaign ephemera... Many, many BERNIE bumper stickers.

Very exciting and quite remarkable.

Edited to add: Saw one Carson bumpersticker months ago.. (before his attempted Matricide, etc. was revealed)

[Blue_Adept]

56. fun with anecdotal evidence

I'm in deep blue MA. And I see one or two Bernie stickers/signs at most. I see a dozen or more trump signs.

It's all pretty meaningless.

[druidity33]

76. I'm in the reddest part of Western MA...

and i see Bernie lawn signs and homemade Bernie signs all over the place. I have not seen a single political sign for any other candidate yet.



As long as we're playing "fun with anecdotal evidence"...

[Blue_Adept]

78. Yup, and I'm in Central MA, where we just had the big Worcester and Lowell Trump events

His presence is dominating compared to anyone on the dem side.

[Karma13612]

86. That is such good news! About Bernie vs Hillary. #bernie16 eom

[jwirr]

30. And we are supposed to trust her. And we Bernie supporters

donate to him to prove it.

[Fuddnik]

31. Fake followers for a fake candidate.

Whoda thunk it?

[Helen Borg]

39. Mmmm

[oasis]

37. Any idea on the percentage of DUers who are fake Democrats?

[George II]

42. BOOM!

[MrWendel]

46. Exactly!

[HubertHeaver]

53. I would guess about 10%

[leftofcool]

64. Kabam!

[treestar]

68. zing!

[smiley]

85. my guess would be a number equal....

to the amount of DUer's currently supporting HRC.

[George II]

38. "Followers" on twitter aren't necessarily all followers of the person, there could be reasons....

....why they "follow" Clinton. Is there any control over who follows and who doesn't?

How about raw numbers instead of percentages?

This is just another attempt to add validity to the similarly debunked "online polls".

Remember, Americans don't vote on twitter, they vote at the polling places.

[Jackilope]

52. Purchased Twitter followers to give the illusion of enthusiasm?

For those of us that do not trust Hillary, this just adds confirmation that she is a manufactured corporate candidate.

She cannot generate genuine grass roots enthusiasm amongst the youth or progressives. She won't fill venues with the same amounts of people coming to hear Bernie. Buying Twitter or Facebook followers isn't going to fool anyone.

[George II]

57. That's ridiculous. How can you prove that there are "purchased" followers? You can't.

[Android3.14]

63. Quack quack

Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows the signs of astroturfing. She doesn't have to do it. Her corporate PAC would do it.

It was a friggin' stupid move. This is an election, not friggin' Etsy.

[Jackilope]

81. This was discussed awhile ago on DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251632175

[treestar]

67. lol you should only add that confirmation

if it is proven and it looks the other way round.

[Jackilope]

82. Lots of interest in HRC in Myanmar .....

Now, only her campaign knows for sure on using click farms, but it is pretty funny that developing counties are liking her on FB, isn't it?

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/sanders-has-army-die-hard-facebook-fans-while-clintons-campaign-trying-buy-popularity

[Blue_Adept]

84. It really is pretty simple

It's also one of the reasons I stopped advertising on FB about a year or two ago.

I run an entertainment website an a little advertising never hurts, right? So you put in the ad, raise awareness of your brand/campaign, and you want people to follow you.

Facebook has it set so that it basically ends up going largely to click farms. Pages and the such have become utterly useless in the last few years because of this and other reasons. Pages aren't really seen by most folks anymore unless specific items are shared and those get highlighted.

I know everyone wants to make it nefarious, but it really isn't. If you do advertising on facebook, you're going to get hit by clickfarms no matter what you do. I always set my ads for US/UK only as that was where my target audience was, but 75% of the likes I would get ended up from Asia and elsewhere.

[Agschmid]

70. Hmm that's odd...

I drove 40 miles out of my way to pick up a student to come canvass in NH today. Seems somewhat like grassroots support from youth to me...

BTW we did 90+ doors, and gave out a whole lot of yard signs. NH will sure be interesting!

[Blue_Adept]

50. And 1k out of my 6.5k followers are fakes

Though what makes an account fake is up for debate since there are quite a few "dead" but reading followers out there.

So that's about 12% of my followers that are fake accounts. I certainly didn't seek them out.

[Blue_Adept]

54. CNN has 11 million fake followers according to this audit

https://www.twitteraudit.com/cnn

9,648,280 Real
11,510,228 Fake

46% real

This is the kind of stuff that happens when you're more of a known commodity.

Happens to celebs as well:

Kim Kardashian

12,275,290 Real
13,459,070 Fake

Beyonce:

3,039,146 Real
2,120,694 Fake

so, go right on with the fake outrage as opposed to understanding how things actually work. smh.

[Agschmid]

72. Yup.

[RandySF]

55. How many DU users have multiple accounts?

[MyNameGoesHere]

59. DU has fake followers too

Now I know what's going on

[UglyGreed]

60. Yet they still lose the

clickety click battle

[arcane1]

61. When she was SoS, she spent taxpayer money to buy Facebook likes for the department

A striking finding in a recent Inspector General report revealed that the U.S. Department of State spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook "likes" in the past two years, effectively buying fans.

In order to bolster its presence on Facebook, the State Department paid about $630,000 for campaigns to increase its total number of likes, the May 2013 report indicates.

While the sheer amount of funds the State Department dropped on social media may be surprising in and of itself, the most significant aspect of the report may be the finding that these fans are, for the most part, fake.

As the report states: "Many in the bureau criticize the advertising campaigns as 'buying fans' who may have once clicked on an ad or 'liked' a photo but have no real interest in the topic and have never engaged further."

-snip-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/03/state-department-facebook-likes-spent-630000_n_3541734.html

[azmom]

71. What a fucking waste of our resources.

[leveymg]

87. Syria was the first Twitter "revolution" - part of a $330 mil DOS regime change operation.

Why am I not surprised she's using the same propaganda tactics in the US?

[arcane1]

88. The modern, digital version of how we overthrew Iran's democracy in the 1950's.

New toys, same shit.

[enid602]

62. numbers

As usual, 30 seconds of googling casts the latest claim coming from the Bernie Bunker in a different light. Per http://news.yahoo.com/bernie-sanders-has-the-least-fake-twitter-184852135.html:


"According to Vocativ, which used a Twitter audit tool to analyze the verified accounts of the 12 most-followed 2016 hopefuls, 89 percent of Sanders’ 750,000 followers are actual users, while just 59 percent of Clinton’s 4.49 million are authentic."

Let's see, using common math, that means that Hillary has 2,649,100 Twitter followers, whereas Bernie has a whopping 667,500. Kind of mirrors polling data, wouldn't you say?

[Thinkingabout]

77. No substance here.

[Jarqui]

80. Shhh

Democrats are not supposed to point out when Hillary is not being honest again!! ...