Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers
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).
@zelo_street Indeed I once bought followers coz I wanted to see what it would deliver. Truly a waste of time/money – they are pointless bots
— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemJKassam) July 16, 2012
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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Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
· Other posts by Sunny Hundal
Story Filed Under: News
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Reader comments
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.
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.
Yeah but it’s kinda funny. S’only a blog post, you know, no one’s calling for resignations.
@ 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.
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:
Enjoy!
I’m fascinated by this as I said last time you talked about it.
Can anyone explain Eoin Clarke’s twitter numbers too?
@ 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.
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?
“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.
@ 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.
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?
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?
“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.
@ 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?
“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.
@ 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.
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!
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.
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! 🙂
@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.
Yes Grant Shapps too #shappsfollowedme
So is Kassam editing his own Wiki entry better or worse than Johann Hari’s active sock-puppet abuse?
@ 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.
@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.
@ 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.
Why not? They have fake leaders after all.
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.
@ 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
- Martin Hume
Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/45eNsofi
- Liberalprick
Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/45eNsofi
- Jorge Vermelhino
Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/MlTsJ1ut naughty boys & girls, tut, tut
- 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 […]
- graham
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez
- graham
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- Sonia
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- Sonia
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- Industree
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- Industree
RT @anyapalmer: RT @oliverburkeman Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/iXDiSmI9
- Stuart McKenzie
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez
- Stuart McKenzie
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez
- 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
- 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
- Ann Lawson
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lc7Wq6UR via @libcon
- Ann Lawson
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lc7Wq6UR via @libcon
- Elizabeth Eva Leach
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez
- Elizabeth Eva Leach
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/QrsIsqez
- Patricia Scott
BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them
- Ruth Waldram
RT @oliverburkeman Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/z6w7NZPP
- Nick Ryder
Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh
- Notts Trades Council
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- Notts Trades Council
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@sunny_hundal: Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/evZOHZ1j
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- andrew watson
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- kisumi
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- kisumi
Epidemic of Tories with fake twitter followers – Tory MPs and activists buy twitter followers #fb http://t.co/Ze8LWZeM
- T
Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh
- T
Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh
- 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) - Chris Spyrou
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/RS31RwkP
- T
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Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh
- Media Blackout News
Our top story today – Revealed: an epidemic of Tories with fake Twitter followers http://t.co/AgNqusqh
- Dina Rickman
Internet celebrity known for superflous appearances on wikipedia among people thought to have bought twitter followers http://t.co/VsjfpZBb
- Dina Rickman
Internet celebrity known for superflous appearances on wikipedia among people thought to have bought twitter followers http://t.co/VsjfpZBb
- Gareth Millward
@blenderhd http://t.co/1W7Ri0LZ
- Gareth Millward
@blenderhd http://t.co/1W7Ri0LZ
- Adam Bienkov
Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/yDclBqn4
- Ray Sirotkin
Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/yDclBqn4
- Bry Volante
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- Citizen K
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- Citizen K
BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them
- Ed Hart
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/gzJjlALU via @libcon
- 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
- Dave
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- TheCreativeCrip
BOOM! Revealed: the epidemic of Tory activists and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/PFlBZzR8 one even admits to buying them
- Janette Scharenborg
epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/lzK6yIzM via @libcon typical! even this they cant do the honest way!!
- Gateshead Unison
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- Arctic Troll
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- Dennis Long
Brill! @sunny_hundal BOOM! Reveals Tory activists fake Twitter followers http://t.co/18iwCjAx Are Tory trolls on Guardian site paid too?
- Jamie McKelvie
Here’s an article on what I was referring to: http://t.co/Pe71kgWQ
- MagsNews
Tories with fake twitter followers http://t.co/H3OMbV6z < are they *so desperate ?? via @sunny_hundal
- cutchswife
RT @MagsNews: Tories with fake twitter followers http://t.co/qbjV0vCR
- 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!
- Tom Delargy
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/g1uATqbc via @libcon
- saramo
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.
- saramo
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon
- Paul Black
Here’s an article on what I was referring to: http://t.co/Pe71kgWQ
- Paul Black
http://t.co/N6fjLlVy Tory's don't get the internet, chapter 64 (via @Mckelvie)
- James Ball
@alexhern Same one, look: http://t.co/WfEAYg1r
- 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
- Roger Tew
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.
- post cromwell
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.
- Katherine Smith
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/BjkvsudR via @libcon That's the Tory Philosophy…pay out.
- Lee Hyde
An epidemic of #Tories and fake twitter followers http://t.co/UuSgg1jM /by @sunny_hundal via @libcon « What a surprise, @grantshapps!
- Kieran Parsons
Brill! @sunny_hundal BOOM! Reveals Tory activists fake Twitter followers http://t.co/18iwCjAx Are Tory trolls on Guardian site paid too?
- Truth To Power
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers http://t.co/IZcVNej7 #cons #desperados #fake
- Barry Navarro
Brill! @sunny_hundal BOOM! Reveals Tory activists fake Twitter followers http://t.co/18iwCjAx Are Tory trolls on Guardian site paid too?
- Inspector Corner
@TopOfTheCopsCom
You've not managed 17,000+ followers then?
http://t.co/aVHfNne3
Try again with different link shortener - 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
- Anthony Adshead
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/h0qoWPMW via @libcon
- Andy Bean
RT @Adriftintime Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/fwMCY61J
- polymath22
@sunny_hundal Fake followers described as 'pointless bots' http://t.co/e7YElnun. They sound just like mine actually #Twittergate.
- 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
- 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
- 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 […]
- 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
- 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
- ashok kumar
hey guys remember this dweeb?http://t.co/3XJDitrf BAAAAAHAHAHA! @RaheemJKassam @lslothuus @NiamhAisha @sherelledavids
- Les Tricoteuses
Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and their fake Twitter followers http://t.co/CADWtsPi
- Pablo Camilleri
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/v3KsGbbw
- Sandra White
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/Rj2ie4IA via @libcon
- eveningnew
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/Rj2ie4IA via @libcon
- 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
- 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 […]
- 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 […]
- Jonathan Biggins
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/7tj2GrUD via @libcon
- Jonathan Biggins
Revealed: an epidemic of Tories & fake followers | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/7tj2GrUD … via @libcon #awkward
- Clinton Yorke
the Tory Party in the UK are also at it http://t.co/7BwJrhm0 dont they realise fake dosnt mean Liked
- Anya Palmer
@PME200 Why did he suddenly decide to lose them? Was he exposed? Or was it this? http://t.co/oyGN33hJ
- Iain Murtagh
@PME200 Why did he suddenly decide to lose them? Was he exposed? Or was it this? http://t.co/oyGN33hJ
- Iain Murtagh
@Kylens Talking of Housing ministers have you seen this ? http://t.co/u5aAtDN5 Mr S is mentioned !
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Martin Grouch
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- Mac
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- 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?
- Paul Trembath
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- Kaptain Khaos
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- Ismail Mulla
Interesting tactics being deployed by right wing politicos to boost followers. Including gov minister Grant Shapps. http://t.co/eFz0WbpK
- Threadbare Panda
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- McGaucho
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- Karen Bryan
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- James Thomson
Here is @sunny_hundal on the increasing use of fake Twitter followers by ambitious young politicos: http://t.co/vuyrMuhG
- PaulPimentel
Same here with GOP "@libcon: Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/lTtt2YUJ"
- vicky
Same here with GOP "@libcon: Revealed: the epidemic of Tories and fake Twitter followers http://t.co/lTtt2YUJ"
- Nik Darlington
@Walpole872 see here http://t.co/ckUBWUrz Kassam's their comms chap.
- Tim Wilson-Brown
And apparently the #Tories have been making a lot of follower purchases lately: http://t.co/xPyG9v0x #followgate
- Mehdi Hasan
@TheCommentator Your "executive editor" admitted to it. Now do leave me alone & stop the cyberstalking/trolling, boys.
http://t.co/ubfeYl2W - Peter Johnson
tories and fake followers http://t.co/qjRqN3Wq
- Inspector Corner
@AlfAlsop @SOLVENETTLEHAM @TopOfTheCopsCom
Tweeted about @MervynBarrett jump in followers 40days ago.
Caught out? - Lee Hyde
@TheCommentator Your "executive editor" admitted to it. Now do leave me alone & stop the cyberstalking/trolling, boys.
http://t.co/ubfeYl2W - Roddy Mansfield
@HendersonW @LouiseMensch @StatusPeople generating a faux social-media following is quite the thing amongst MP's: http://t.co/Qdhxq3Sb
- David Talbot
@RaheemJKassam Anonymity? Sorry, and you are? Your desperation to be 'of status' is palpable. And buying followers: http://t.co/qK41z8LQ
- 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
- Shaf Wahid
@broseph_stalin @raheemjkassam @lslothuus everytime I feel down I remember this: http://t.co/je68tL7W #LOL
- Tom Griffin
@StevenNott @AlastairMorgan I hear some Tories pay a lot of money for that sort of thing! http://t.co/WOEbGEtn
- Alastair Morgan
@StevenNott @AlastairMorgan I hear some Tories pay a lot of money for that sort of thing! http://t.co/WOEbGEtn
- Steve Graves
@mikejgirling ask Grant Shapps and friends to explain all http://t.co/UR435B0Q
- Steve Hynd
@GreenJennyJones Ask Grant Shapps et al http://t.co/SVtL4XJ8
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