FIVE KEY POINTS

WHY FAKE IT?

On the Internet, where followers, likes and clicks are measures of infl uence, some individuals and organizations have resorted to buying their clout. Companies called click farms have sprung up online selling fake retweets, page views and even Facebook friends to anyone looking to pad their online presence or expand their social networks.

BOOMING MARKET

Researchers say the sale of fake Twitter followers was worth up

to $ 360 million in 2013, and that fake Facebook activities can bring in $ 200 million annually. One click farm, BuyPlusFollowers, sells 250 Google+ shares for $ 12.95, while an Indonesian company off ers attention- seeking web users 1,000 Twitter followers for just $ 10 and one million for $ 600.

WIDESPREAD USE

The prevalence of the phoney online activity has led companies to fi ght back. Facebook has estimated up to 14.1 million of its 1.18 billion active users are fraudulent accounts. YouTube wiped out billions of music video views after auditors found some videos had exaggerated numbers of views. Google also constantly battles people who generate fake clicks on their ads.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Bangladesh and Indonesia have emerged as centre of international click farming, with companies popping up to fulfi l social media users’ desires for online grandeur. One Dhaka, Bangladesh- based company even pays employees to manually click on clients’ pages through real accounts, making it more diffi cult for companies like Facebook to track the fake activity.

FIGHTING BACK

As fake followers have emerged, so have businesses determined to detect and block

fraudulent activity. Even the U. S. government has been forced to respond to its own instance of Facebook forgery. Last year, the U. S. State Department’s inspector general criticized the agency for spending $ 630,000 to buy Facebook fans.