New York Settles With Devumi Over Millions of Fake Social Media Followers
New York Attorney General Letitia James reaches a settlement with Devumi after the company makes millions selling fake social media followers using stolen identities. The landmark case sets a new precedent for prosecuting online deception as a cyber crime.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announces a settlement with Devumi, a company that makes millions by selling fake followers to unsuspecting customers. The state finds that Devumi engages in illegal deception and illegal impersonation by using automated accounts to inflate social media profiles. This landmark case follows a major New York Times investigation that prompts the official state probe into the company's shadowy business practices.
Devumi relies on a massive stable of 3.5 million bots to fuel its operations, often stealing names and profile images from real people to make the fake accounts look legitimate. While some customers know they are buying fake followers, many others do not, and this deception remains central to the state's legal case. Facing the intense scrutiny of the investigation and declining sales, Devumi shuts down its operations entirely mid-last year.
This settlement sets an interesting new precedent for a newly defined category of potential cyber crime, a development that strikes fear into sketchy social media companies across the web. Attorney General James emphasizes that her office continues to actively find and stop anyone who profits from selling online deception. The ruling signals a strict new era of accountability for businesses that use bots to carry out fraud and manipulate social media platforms.