Tuesday, August 08, 2017

Trump’s Twitter Following: Bot and Paid For? - Vogue

Fake fans, fittingly... Tangentially, in the real world, Peter Thiel Has Been Hedging His Bet On Donald Trump (BuzzFeed)
"Curious citizens embarked on an investigation and found that Nicole Mincey is, in reality, a young college student in New Jersey whose name, address, and image have been used to create a pro-Trump bot account on Twitter. Heavy.com got in touch with the real “Nicole Mincey,” who says her identity was stolen in order to sell Trump products (and to flatter the president on social media). Not only was Mincey’s name used to create a fake Twitter account, but it was also stolen to start a Trump merchandise store (where she’s listed as the main point of contact), and a GoFundMe account for “Young Black Republicans,” which no longer exists.
After Trump’s high-profile retweet of Mincey’s post led to the unmasking of @protrump45, the name and profile image on the fake account were briefly updated to something else entirely, until Twitter suspended the account altogether—standard procedure for outed bot accounts. As of this morning, Trump has yet to take down his retweet."
Trump’s Twitter Following: Bot and Paid For? - Vogue

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