Follower fraud figures fake influence of stars

CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION has uncovered an underground profit chain that creates false data flows for entertainment stars by using software that automatically forwards their micro blog posts to false accounts that "like" them. Thepaper.cn comments:

The number of followers, as well as "likes", forwards and positive comments at some entertainment stars' micro blogs is rather astonishing. Some of them claim to have micro blogs with 30 million followers, while some have micro blogs that received 10 million "likes".

Ke Jie, a famous domestic Go player who has won many championships, even jokingly said that, added together, the number of entertainment stars' followers exceeds the Earth's total population.

The CCTV report did not reveal who created the false data flows for the entertainment stars, but some fans are so irrational in their worship of these celebrities that they are willing to pay the underground companies money to boost the prestige of their idols.

And some of the fans are rather proud of what they do, claiming they are helping their own idols, which is a private matter. But they are wrong because it's a public matter.

Buying false data flows for celebrities may mislead people into believing the not-so-good entertainment stars are influential. That in turn is unfair to the entertainment stars who work hard and provide good micro blogs for fans.

The whole entertainment industry will suffer and become a game of burning money, instead of those working in it sharpening their skills. If that continues, the TV shows will be full of false idols who rely on the buying of followers, not those who have the most talent.

The problem is deeply rooted in the business model of certain social media platforms. Some of them are so fond of making money out of the data flows that they judge an entertainment star's influence by his or her number of followers only, without strictly checking whether the number is true. It is time for the platforms to put an end to this practice.