The endorsements from 'bot' accounts pretending to express genuine opinions of real people deceived social media users by making those endorsed appear more popular or influential.
New York's attorney general on Wednesday said she has resolved a probe into a group of Colorado companies that once sold fake followers, "likes" and views on social media platforms, in the first US settlement to deem such sales illegally deceptive.
Attorney General Letitia James said the now-defunct Devumi LLC and other companies owned by German Calas generated about US$15mil (RM61.3mil) of revenue from 2015 to 2017 through roughly 250,000 sales of fake endorsements and engagement for platforms such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, SoundCloud, Twitter, Vimeo and YouTube.
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