Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers


by Sunny Hundal    
2:53 pm - July 17th 2012

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A few weeks ago this blog revealed that Tory candidate Mark Clarke had tens of thousands of fake Twitter followers.

Mark Clarke started with 50,000 followers when he joined Twitter in March this year, and he won’t tell us whether he had bought his followers or not.

But now an investigation by Liberal Conspiracy can reveal that accumulating fake Twitter followers has become an epidemic in some right-wing circles in the UK.

We looked into the accounts of Conservative activists, many of whom were connected to the Young Britons Foundation (YBF), and found unusual jumps in their Twitter followers.

Frank Manning
Frank says he is: “Campaigns Coordinator for @YBFOnline,” and has over 11,000 followers on Twitter. After scrolling past a few pages of his followers, we found a familiar pattern: lots of fake and foreign-language accounts.

His jump in followers over the last few months is equally familiar: a consistent spike over a few months, and then a slow decline.

Colm Howard-Lloyd
Colm describes himself as: “Speechwriter, PR and webgeek. @HuffPostUK columnist, Trustee @TheFoodChain, @LGBTory officer”. He has over 57,000 followers. The graph below speaks for itself.

Raheem Kassam
Raheem Kassam runs the Commentator blog, and desperate to get noticed. In June we asked: Who is Raheem Kassam, and revealed his extensive and flowery Wikipedia profile.

Wikipedia editors later deleted his profile, deeming him not important enough, and Kassam would not tell us what username he used to edit Wikipedia. Though he admitted to editing his profile.

Raheem Kassam has now admitted to buying Twitter followers (exposed first by Tim Fenton).

Oh dear. That budding media profile is crumbling.

Andre Walker
Andre Walker is a Tory activist involved with Harry Cole’s anti-trade union group TURC (along with Mark Clarke). His account follows a familiar pattern of pages of fake Twitter followers.

Grant Shapps MP
Exposed yesterday by Political Scrapbook for using a script to repeatedly following and unfollowing accounts to boost his numbers.

It seems Tory activists are trying every trick in the book these days to boost their online presence. Nice try, guys.

UPDATE
Mervyen Barrett OBE
Not a Tory, but an independent candidate running to be Police & Crime Commissioner in Lincolnshire.

Mr Barrett follows a familiar pattern: pages of fake Twitter followers after scrolling past recent ones, and a sudden jump in numbers over last few weeks.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Jennie Kermode

Kassam’s comments betray an astonishing naivety. Did he really think he was buying an audience of potential voters willing to listen to his views?

I follow a number of politicians with whom I only occasionally agree. I imagine this is common. It would be folly for any such person to assume that a large number of followers equated to support. It doesn’t take much effort to determine, for instance, that many of Nadine Dorries’ followers are there to laugh at her and that Louise Mensch’s are more interested in watching her pick fights than in being persuaded by her policy ideas.

2. Livers

So what?

They want to pretend to be popular, but in reality they aren’t. No biggie. Just typical politician vanity.

OK, so there is an underlying deceit here, but compared to;
- using personal emails to circumnavigate FOI
- using the ministerial veto to hide your tracks
- sharing price sensitive information to the worlds largest media group
- taking a fake spad paid for by the Tory “charity” AtlanticBridge to MoD meetings
- hiring the former NOTW Editor and probable criminal to be your Press Officer

.. this really is small beer.

3. Sy

Yeah but it’s kinda funny. S’only a blog post, you know, no one’s calling for resignations.

4. Chaise Guevara

@ 2 Livers

“this really is small beer.”

Still worth mentioning, especially when one of these losers inevitably stands up and says “Listen to me, because I represent 10,000 people!”, somehow failing to mention that most of these people are either a) not people at all, or b) bought.

The illusion of support matters.

5. Tim Fenton

My thanks to Sunny for the links.

On the subject of Frank Manning, I took some screenshots, just to show the true conservatism of his following:

http://zelo.tv/LvAJZr

Enjoy!

6. Tim Worstall

I’m fascinated by this as I said last time you talked about it.

Can anyone explain Eoin Clarke’s twitter numbers too?

7. Chaise Guevara

@ 6 Tim

“Can anyone explain Eoin Clarke’s twitter numbers too?”

I just had a quick scan through his followers and they look legit for as far as I could be bothered to keep scrolling, which in fairness wasn’t all that far. Maybe he’s just inexplicably popular. Either way, if you think he’s up to shenanigans you should provide evidence instead of just floating the idea randomly.

8. Sharp Angle

Another example would be Tory MP Robert Halfon’s staffer Paul Abbott buying likes for their “right wing answer to 31 degrees”:

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/04/right-angle-campaign-facebook/

You should add it to the list?

9. Tim Worstall

“Maybe he’s just inexplicably popular. Either way, if you think he’s up to shenanigans you should provide evidence instead of just floating the idea randomly.”

It’s not a random suggestion though. I mentioned it last time Sunny was on this subject.

The ebuzzing rankings (the ones that make Eoin the top UK political blog, or at least did, and Murphy the top UK economics blog….and yes, obviously, there’s room for accusations of sour grapes there) depend for a large part of their calculation on the number of Twitter followers.

If anyone did want to game those ebuzzing rankings then that would be the way to do it: gain Twitter followers.

10. Chaise Guevara

@ 9 Tim

Aye, but “therefore those followers are probably fake” is a bit of a leap, which you didn’t say but it’s obviously what you’re implying.

Basically, if you or someone else wants to find out about Clarke’s followers, you’ll need to go through the data. Otherwise it’s the equivalent of “Some criminals are rich. Is my rich neighbour who I hate therefore a criminal? Hmm? I’m not making any falsifiable claim to that effect, oh dear me no, just putting it out there…”

A bit dishonourable, I think.

11. Guy Halsall

The government is wrecking the country and you’re wasting your time counting the Tories’ Twitter followers? Is this really the best you can do?

12. Sunny Hundal

Tim W: It’s not a random suggestion though. I mentioned it last time Sunny was on this subject.

Jumping the shark eh? If you think Eoin’s twitter followers are fake (I don’t) – why not look into it yourself instead of asking others to do your work for you?

13. Tim Worstall

“why not look into it yourself instead of asking others to do your work for you?”

Because I do not know how to and you do.

14. Chaise Guevara

@ 13 Tim

Fair enough, to a point, but if Sunny says he’s going off to check Clarke’s Twitter details and comes back saying “It’s all above board, nothing to see here”, are you going to accept that?

15. Tim Worstall

“comes back saying “It’s all above board, nothing to see here”, are you going to accept that?”

Sure.

I really am interested to know. Which is why I mentioned it firs time around.

16. Chaise Guevara

@ 15 Tim

I admit I’m interested to see whether any left-wingers get caught up in this. Because the two people who seem to be leading the expose – Sunny and Tim Fenton – are both lefties and fairly pugilistic ones at that.

If it IS just right-wingers I don’t know what that indicates. Not that dishonestly is a right-wing disease, certainly. Maybe simply that one right-winger got hold of this idea and spread it to his friends.

17. Tony

This is a good read, not much wrong with it though. I might point out that you don’t actually have to hand over your account for some of these – it is known to be possible to ‘gift’ people purchased followers. Still, a good indication there’s not many of them on twitter!

18. Jon

Eoin follows about 10,000 people, which is presumably anyone who has ever interacted with his account – I think that explains his high number of followers.

He’s only got 6000 more than that, once you’ve got 10,000 followers I suspect it is pretty easy to get more because whatever you tweet is basically going to get retweeted by someone. If you don’t care about who you’re following it’s probably quite easy to get more people to follow back.

He also tweets a lot, makes a lot of posts, makes the kind of tweets that get retweeted a lot, etc. Also often retweets at peak times to maximise audience. I was surprised by how many he had but looking at it it’s pretty explainable.

RE: is being a “right wing” thing – I don’t know if it is, and I’m sure people do it all over inside and outside of politics. But a lot of the posters Sunny highlighted are associated with the Young Britons’ Foundation. They effective train young Tories in political campaigning, media skills and social media. If there’s a common thread running through their recruits in the use of social media I think it’s reasonable to think they might have something to do with that.

19. Sean Francis

The question of real or unreal supporters, followers etc is very important as I have been hearing more and more politicians and commentators use phrases like “the people I have been speaking to haven’t raised it as an issue” or “none of my followers on twitter have asked questions about that” and using it to legitimise decisions and policy!

We should definitely challenge this kind of thing – thanks again to Liberal Conspiracy for highlighting these things!

P.S. I love the name Chaise Guevara! :-)

20. Tim Fenton

@16

I love being described not only as a “leftie” but also “pugilistic”. Not particularly accurate but I appreciate the sentiment.

Just to let everyone know, there will be more revelations. I’ve got two in the pipeline and, who knows, there may be others.

21. Grant Fan #1

Yes Grant Shapps too #shappsfollowedme

22. alan

So is Kassam editing his own Wiki entry better or worse than Johann Hari’s active sock-puppet abuse?

23. Chaise Guevara

@ 19 Sean

Cheers – the only downside is that I get the odd person accusing me of communism.

@ Tim Fenton

Are you not a leftie? “Puglisitic” was shorthand really: what I mean is that you seem to be engaged in feuds with a few right-wing commentators. That’s not to say that you *started* those feuds.

24. Tim Fenton

@23

I don’t consider myself to be at any particular point on the political spectrum, not being a party person and all that. That didn’t stop Andre Walker (see above) calling me a “Communist” and asserting that I was in favour of seeing 100 million people killed, which was his downfall. Had the idiot kept schtum, I would not have been inclined to have a look at his Twitter followers.

As to your last point, that’s quite nicely put.

25. Chaise Guevara

@ 24 Tim

“Lefty = communist = genocide sympathiser” seems to be a common line trotted out by some of the stupider right-wingers when they run out of points to make (which is often, what with them being stupid and everything). I guess it’s the opposite of the “right-winger = fascist = genocide sympathiser” attitude we see from some of LC’s lefties.

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been called a Trot/Marxist/Stalinist or informed that my secret goal is to see all power devolved to the state and all people crippled in the name of equality, a la Harrison Bergeron. Because as we know, all that follows *inevitably* from believing in universal healthcare or some sort of regulation over markets. I seem to get it most when I venture the opinion that parents don’t own their children.

26. Jimmy

Why not? They have fake leaders after all.

27. Anubeon

This does not surprise me one bit. Especially in the case of ‘my’ MP Grant Shapps. The man has a proven track record of sock-puppetry (Grant Shapps is a sock-puppeting loser) and this seems to be the level of respect he and his ilk feel for online media. It’s just a means of fabricating consensus for their policies and spooking out their opponents (and by them I refer to PR spivs and the unprincipled, not Tories per se).

Anyhow, I’ve just unfollowed him. I wouldn’t want to mislead the man into thinking that he has a genuine supporter in me. No Grant, it’s just bots and followbacks from here on out.~ ;-)

I do hope that as much vigour has been brought to task against the accounts of left-wing blogeratti and politicians. I’d hate to think this was which hunt (I don’t by the way; if it were the Liberal Democrats would certainly have featured). Perhaps publishing your techniques would go some way to assuaging the suspicions of certain people.

@22

“is Kassam editing his own Wiki entry better or worse than Johann Hari’s active sock-puppet abuse?”

Neither. It’s precisely the same thing, and is equally strongly discouraged whether your left-wing, right-wing, centrist, a purple smurf with body odour issues or a transsexual German nun named Terrance.

I’m assuming here that Kassam, like Johann Hari, used an undeclared account to create and/or edit his Wikipedia biography. Did he declare himself as himself on any Talk page(s) or request approval of his edits to his own biography by third party editors (as advised in Wiki:Autobiography)?

The question is also begged; is CREATING a brand new Wikipedia AUTObiography of oneself when oneself is, for all intents and purposes, a nobody (no insult intended; I’m a proud nobody myself) worse than merely editing an existing biography (whose existence is at least cursory evidence that one is a ‘somebody’)? I don’t honestly know to be honest.

28. Chaise Guevara

@ 27

“The question is also begged; is CREATING a brand new Wikipedia AUTObiography of oneself when oneself is, for all intents and purposes, a nobody (no insult intended; I’m a proud nobody myself) worse than merely editing an existing biography (whose existence is at least cursory evidence that one is a ‘somebody’)?”

I’d say there’s an extra point of deception there, so it’s like one point worse. But very much the same ballpark.

I occasionally have to look up small and obscure firms for work purposes and am amused when I find the WIkipedia pages they’ve copy-pasted from their press releases (“Acme Generic Automotive is a car firm renowned for combining affordability with quality” or whatever). What’s more worrying is, how many entries have been created by more talented sockpuppets?


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Martin Hume

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/45eNsofi

  2. Liberalprick

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/45eNsofi

  3. Jorge Vermelhino

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/MlTsJ1ut naughty boys & girls, tut, tut

  4. Willoughby PR – A Birmingham - Midlands based Top 150 PR and Social Media Agency

    [...] it) has reared its ugly head in UK politics now. So far, the epidemic seems to be Tory led with an investigation by Liberal Conspiracy revealing that accumulating fake Twitter followers has become the norm in [...]

  5. graham

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez

  6. graham

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  7. Sonia

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  8. Sonia

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  9. Industree

    RT @anyapalmer: RT @oliverburkeman Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/iXDiSmI9

  10. Industree

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  11. Stuart McKenzie

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez

  12. Stuart McKenzie

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez

  13. Doug

    Is there anything about Tories that *isn't* fake, and based on lies? http://t.co/lynBsEFp http://t.co/QaBoWyae ht @libcon @zelo_street

  14. Doug

    Is there anything about Tories that *isn't* fake, and based on lies? http://t.co/lynBsEFp http://t.co/QaBoWyae ht @libcon @zelo_street

  15. Ann Lawson

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lc7Wq6UR via @libcon

  16. Ann Lawson

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lc7Wq6UR via @libcon

  17. Elizabeth Eva Leach

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez

  18. Elizabeth Eva Leach

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez

  19. Patricia Scott

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  20. Ruth Waldram

    RT @oliverburkeman Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/z6w7NZPP

  21. Nick Ryder

    Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh

  22. Notts Trades Council

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  23. Notts Trades Council

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  24. Hywel Jones

    @sunny_hundal: Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/evZOHZ1j

  25. Captain Swing

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  26. NemesisRepublic

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  27. Mark Howard

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  28. John Gosling

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  29. andrew watson

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  30. kisumi

    Epidemic of Tories with fake twitter followers – Tory MPs and activists buy twitter followers #fb http://t.co/Ze8LWZeM

  31. kisumi

    Epidemic of Tories with fake twitter followers – Tory MPs and activists buy twitter followers #fb http://t.co/Ze8LWZeM

  32. T

    Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh

  33. T

    Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh

  34. Jack Rivlin

    Amusing. 1st Kassam edited his own Wikipedia page, now he admits to buying Twitter followers. Sad.
    http://t.co/Gn9BxU0B (h/t @sunny_hundal)

  35. Chris Spyrou

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/RS31RwkP

  36. T

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  37. Media Blackout News

    Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh

  38. Media Blackout News

    Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh

  39. Dina Rickman

    Internet celebrity known for superflous appearances on wikipedia among people thought to have bought twitter followers http://t.co/VsjfpZBb

  40. Dina Rickman

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  41. Gareth Millward

    @blenderhd http://t.co/1W7Ri0LZ

  42. Gareth Millward

    @blenderhd http://t.co/1W7Ri0LZ

  43. Adam Bienkov

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/yDclBqn4

  44. Ray Sirotkin

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/yDclBqn4

  45. Bry Volante

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/yDclBqn4

  46. p

    @campbell_booth Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/NHXOxOaz

  47. Citizen K

    Epidemic of Tories with fake twitter followers – Tory MPs and activists buy twitter followers #fb http://t.co/Ze8LWZeM

  48. Citizen K

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  49. Ed Hart

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/gzJjlALU via @libcon

  50. Serf of Britain

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  51. Dave

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  52. TheCreativeCrip

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  53. Janette Scharenborg

    epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lzK6yIzM via @libcon typical! even this they cant do the honest way!!

  54. Gateshead Unison

    epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lzK6yIzM via @libcon typical! even this they cant do the honest way!!

  55. Arctic Troll

    BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them

  56. Dennis Long

    Brill! @sunny_hundal BOOM! Reveals Tory activists fake Twitter followers http://t.co/18iwCjAx Are Tory trolls on Guardian site paid too?

  57. Jamie McKelvie

    Here’s an article on what I was referring to: http://t.co/Pe71kgWQ

  58. MagsNews

    Tories with fake twitter followers http://t.co/H3OMbV6z < are they *so desperate ?? via @sunny_hundal

  59. cutchswife

    RT @MagsNews: Tories with fake twitter followers http://t.co/qbjV0vCR

  60. Viv Williams

    RT @MagsNews: Tories with fake twitter followers http://t.co/0BOxbtNp < are they *so desperate ?? via @sunny_hundal > They don't get it!

  61. Tom Delargy

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/g1uATqbc via @libcon

  62. saramo

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.

  63. saramo

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon

  64. Paul Black

    Here’s an article on what I was referring to: http://t.co/Pe71kgWQ

  65. Paul Black

    http://t.co/N6fjLlVy Tory's don't get the internet, chapter 64 (via @Mckelvie)

  66. James Ball

    @alexhern Same one, look: http://t.co/WfEAYg1r

  67. sunny hundal

    @girlonetrack oh, I won't say exactly how he got the fakes ;-), but people can buy them, and it's not unusual http://t.co/AgNqusqh

  68. Roger Tew

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.

  69. post cromwell

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.

  70. Katherine Smith

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.

  71. Lee Hyde

    An epidemic of #Tories and fake twitter followers http://t.co/UuSgg1jM /by @sunny_hundal via @libcon « What a surprise, @grantshapps!

  72. Kieran Parsons

    Brill! @sunny_hundal BOOM! Reveals Tory activists fake Twitter followers http://t.co/18iwCjAx Are Tory trolls on Guardian site paid too?

  73. Truth To Power

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers http://t.co/IZcVNej7 #cons #desperados #fake

  74. Barry Navarro

    Brill! @sunny_hundal BOOM! Reveals Tory activists fake Twitter followers http://t.co/18iwCjAx Are Tory trolls on Guardian site paid too?

  75. Inspector Corner

    @TopOfTheCopsCom
    You've not managed 17,000+ followers then?
    http://t.co/aVHfNne3
    Try again with different link shortener

  76. FiveDee's Cats

    .@TheDailyEdge This "new Twitter followers fast" is not limited 2 #US #Romney, #UK #Tories do it 2 http://t.co/rxRIyK4u http://t.co/Yq5vuKrT

  77. Anthony Adshead

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/h0qoWPMW via @libcon

  78. Andy Bean

    RT @Adriftintime Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/fwMCY61J

  79. polymath22

    @sunny_hundal Fake followers described as 'pointless bots' http://t.co/e7YElnun. They sound just like mine actually #Twittergate.

  80. Parm Bilkhu

    For background, see @sunny_hundal's piece on the epidemic of Tories buying 10,000s of fake followers on Twitter http://t.co/IX8zDPQI

  81. Innerwisdom

    For background, see @sunny_hundal's piece on the epidemic of Tories buying 10,000s of fake followers on Twitter http://t.co/IX8zDPQI

  82. Louise Mensch has at least 17,000 fake Twitter followers | Political Scrapbook

    [...] numerous junior Tories caught paying to boost their social media standing, Grant Shapps has been exposed for using a [...]

  83. Jon Worth

    There's now a (rough) fake follower tool http://t.co/YLqCUGA3 – my score: 2%. Also confirms this LibCon story http://t.co/ENYBif5t

  84. Thijs Niks

    There's now a (rough) fake follower tool http://t.co/YLqCUGA3 – my score: 2%. Also confirms this LibCon story http://t.co/ENYBif5t

  85. ashok kumar

    hey guys remember this dweeb?http://t.co/3XJDitrf BAAAAAHAHAHA! @RaheemJKassam @lslothuus @NiamhAisha @sherelledavids

  86. Les Tricoteuses

    Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/CADWtsPi

  87. Pablo Camilleri

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/v3KsGbbw

  88. Sandra White

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/Rj2ie4IA via @libcon

  89. eveningnew

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/Rj2ie4IA via @libcon

  90. Gergely Polner

    There's now a (rough) fake follower tool http://t.co/YLqCUGA3 – my score: 2%. Also confirms this LibCon story http://t.co/ENYBif5t

  91. In fairness to Louise Mensch and Mitt Romney, they may not have been buying Twitter followers | Legal Aware

    [...] of accounts with no tweets and profile information stolen from other users. With numerous junior Tories caught paying to boost their social media standing, Grant Shapps has been exposed for using a [...]

  92. Louise Mensch misquotes to smear Political Scrapbook | Political Scrapbook

    [...] of Tories” with paid-for followers — perfectly reasonable given this is from a Liberal Conspiracy post documenting the trend. But repeatedly misquoting us yesterday, Mensch substituted the decidedly [...]

  93. Jonathan Biggins

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/7tj2GrUD via @libcon

  94. Jonathan Biggins

    Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/7tj2GrUD … via @libcon #awkward

  95. Clinton Yorke

    the Tory Party in the UK are also at it http://t.co/7BwJrhm0 dont they realise fake dosnt mean Liked

  96. Anya Palmer

    @PME200 Why did he suddenly decide to lose them? Was he exposed? Or was it this? http://t.co/oyGN33hJ

  97. Iain Murtagh

    @PME200 Why did he suddenly decide to lose them? Was he exposed? Or was it this? http://t.co/oyGN33hJ

  98. Iain Murtagh

    @Kylens Talking of Housing ministers have you seen this ? http://t.co/u5aAtDN5 Mr S is mentioned !

  99. Peter

    Tories buying fake followers on Twitter: http://t.co/OaVfzr9X Should I add @StephenCanning to the list? My updated blog http://t.co/n7GF2u6z

  100. Iain Murtagh

    Tories buying fake followers on Twitter: http://t.co/OaVfzr9X Should I add @StephenCanning to the list? My updated blog http://t.co/n7GF2u6z

  101. John Kennedy

    Tories buying fake followers on Twitter: http://t.co/OaVfzr9X Should I add @StephenCanning to the list? My updated blog http://t.co/n7GF2u6z

  102. Anya Palmer

    Tories buying fake followers on Twitter: http://t.co/OaVfzr9X Should I add @StephenCanning to the list? My updated blog http://t.co/n7GF2u6z

  103. karen pearson

    Tories buying fake followers on Twitter: http://t.co/OaVfzr9X Should I add @StephenCanning to the list? My updated blog http://t.co/n7GF2u6z

  104. Martin Grouch

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  105. Mac

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  106. Mr. Wombat

    Zomg. There's an epidemic of Tories: http://t.co/Auz9LguQ also, dog bites man. @sunnyhundal's pitching for shittiest journo of the year?

  107. Paul Trembath

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  108. Kaptain Khaos

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  109. Ismail Mulla

    Interesting tactics being deployed by right wing politicos to boost followers. Including gov minister Grant Shapps. http://t.co/eFz0WbpK

  110. Threadbare Panda

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  111. McGaucho

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  112. Karen Bryan

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  113. James Thomson

    Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG

  114. PaulPimentel

    Same here with GOP "@libcon: Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/lTtt2YUJ&quot;

  115. vicky

    Same here with GOP "@libcon: Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/lTtt2YUJ&quot;

  116. Nik Darlington

    @Walpole872 see here http://t.co/ckUBWUrz Kassam's their comms chap.

  117. Tim Wilson-Brown

    And apparently the #Tories have been making a lot of follower purchases lately: http://t.co/xPyG9v0x #followgate

  118. Mehdi Hasan

    @TheCommentator Your "executive editor" admitted to it. Now do leave me alone & stop the cyberstalking/trolling, boys.
    http://t.co/ubfeYl2W

  119. Peter Johnson

    tories and fake followers http://t.co/qjRqN3Wq

  120. Inspector Corner

    @AlfAlsop @SOLVENETTLEHAM @TopOfTheCopsCom

    Tweeted about @MervynBarrett jump in followers 40days ago.
    Caught out?

    http://t.co/cHjD8PKi

  121. Lee Hyde

    @TheCommentator Your "executive editor" admitted to it. Now do leave me alone & stop the cyberstalking/trolling, boys.
    http://t.co/ubfeYl2W

  122. Roddy Mansfield

    @HendersonW @LouiseMensch @StatusPeople generating a faux social-media following is quite the thing amongst MP's: http://t.co/Qdhxq3Sb

  123. David Talbot

    @RaheemJKassam Anonymity? Sorry, and you are? Your desperation to be 'of status' is palpable. And buying followers: http://t.co/qK41z8LQ

  124. Nick Barber

    @RobRyan_ Yep – there was a Tory MP in the news last week who scammed his number of followers up – http://t.co/MkkbWOR0

  125. Shaf Wahid

    @broseph_stalin @raheemjkassam @lslothuus everytime I feel down I remember this: http://t.co/je68tL7W #LOL

  126. Tom Griffin

    @StevenNott @AlastairMorgan I hear some Tories pay a lot of money for that sort of thing! http://t.co/WOEbGEtn

  127. Alastair Morgan

    @StevenNott @AlastairMorgan I hear some Tories pay a lot of money for that sort of thing! http://t.co/WOEbGEtn

  128. Steve Graves

    @mikejgirling ask Grant Shapps and friends to explain all http://t.co/UR435B0Q

  129. Steve Hynd

    @GreenJennyJones Ask Grant Shapps et al http://t.co/SVtL4XJ8





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