
Rising Instagram Stars Are Posting Fake Sponsored Content - Reedx
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/12/influencers-are-faking-brand-deals/578401/
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avip
So finally we've come full cycle. The wannabe "influencer" with his fake
"followers" bought 1$ a pound on fiverr, is posting fake "sponsored content",
so social media "marketers" would perceive him as valuable enough to (fakely)
promote their (probably faked) product. I ran out of double-quotes, you could
legitly double-quote any other word up there.

~~~
snaky
The question is what should be the next logical step?

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GuiA
People realizing that marketing is all smokes and mirrors BS and starting to
not give a crap, and instead buying things from local producers and
manufacturers based on how it contributes to and benefits their own community.

It’s the holiday season, please let me dream :-)

~~~
avip
For _a dream_ that is depressingly minor! How about people stop buying things
they don't need. Lost crafts of fixing things are thriving again. As result,
elderly are re-introduced into society as they have the lost knowledge.
Deurbanization starts when people discover they can't grow their own food on
concrete. The 9-5 day slowly shifts back to a dynamic sunrise-to-sunset
schedule. Cars are banned from small communities because emission degrades the
local crops. As a result, kids rediscover they can safely play outside,
without the limiting supervision of adults. That starts a positive feedback
loop that collapses the (a)social networks, and as a byproduct the whole
economy of attention.

~~~
ndnxhs
A sunrise sunset schedule would mean working more hours than I currently do.

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pmlnr
A fake internet, with real names, vs a real internet with pseudonyms, 10-15
years ago. Interesting. Maybe one of those things need to be fake to keep the
universe in equivalent exchange.

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BadassFractal
I've always been fascinated with the paths and lives of hustlers and con men,
people who (try to) make a living misleading others about their success and
credentials. Obviously this is as old as humanity itself, and it always makes
for a good story. Social engineering is fascinating.

Anybody remember good old
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Is_Nothing_(video_r...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Is_Nothing_\(video_r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9\))
from the dark ages of the Internet?

~~~
jjeaff
The role of "confidence man" used to be relegated to a small few with enough
brains to pull it off and not enough morality to stop them.

Now, those select few con men have been using the internet to teach masses of
wannabes that are too dumb to come up with the con, and too deluded to realize
the immorality of what they are doing.

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ACow_Adonis
Why give them (and their industry) the respect they so desperately crave by
calling them influences and brand ambassadors when the English language
already has an entire cornucopia of applicable organic words describing this
phenomenon.

Shill, plant, phoney, stooge, wannabe, peddler.

Don't let the marketers win :p

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mdolon
This feels like a scene straight out of Idiocracy. The brands must be
pleasantly confused.

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scarejunba
Haha, this is great. It’s a race to the bottom because most influencers aren’t
providing anything unique: One is as good as another for the number of people
they reach.

~~~
catacombs
It's all a sham. It amazes me that some people simply need to be attractive,
wealthy, live an impossible lifestyle or all three and make hundreds of
thousands of dollars from brands on a social media platform.

Many of these people hang on every update to Instagram, to the point that,
eventually, the platform will be too big to fail.

I'd love to see the day when Instagram vanishes and all the influencers who
put all their eggs in the filtered baskets are knocked back to reality.

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village-idiot
Not surprising. If sponsored content is a signifier of success, people will
fake it.

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lolc
Meet the fake shill. A sad byproduct of consumerism.

Sometimes I'm suprised at society. Then I'm annoyed at my surprise. Then I
tell myself not everybody is like this.

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Para2016
From the article: "If someone who is 20 years old watching YouTube or
Instagram sees these people traveling with brands, promoting brands, I don’t
see why they wouldn’t do everything they could to get in on that.”

\-- It's interesting to see quotes like this, especially in the context of the
"everything bubble". 2019 is going to be economically horrendous, these people
won't survive.

~~~
catacombs
> these people won't survive.

I already said it in another comment, but I'd love to see what would happen if
Instagram just shuts downs or if they are impacted heavily by the incoming
recession.

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matte_black
Will this ultimately lower the revenue from sponsored content if so many
people are tripping over themselves to pay companies to post their content?

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Rotten194
> Though it may seem like a useful tactic when you’re starting out, more
> established influencers worry that fake sponcon is creating a race to the
> bottom. Because brands can piggyback off of waves of unpaid influencer
> promoters, some have ceased paying influencers completely, or now pay rates
> far below what they previously spent.

~~~
matte_black
That’s what the article says but articles say a lot of things and I’d rather
hear from someone more enlightened...

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bobthepanda
Smells like an FCC regulation waiting to happen.

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JumpCrisscross
> _Smells like an FCC regulation waiting to happen_

I don't see a problem. Users want influencers backed by brands. Brands want
influencers with lots of users.

Unless the influencer falsely represents their sponsorship history to a brand,
this "hack" doesn't hurt anyone. The worst-off party are users. They follow
someone they _think_ is shilling products but is actually shilling themselves.
Given this is Instagram, I don't see that as a huge problem.

~~~
Traster
Most of the time this doesn't hurt anyone, but let's say for the sake of
argument that one of these influencers isn't a mildly attractive middle-class
teenage girl with thoughts that don't extend beyond family friendly fun and
self-enrichment.

Let's say instead you have a 25 year old man who started out with
inspirational instagram posts have slowly started to cross the line into far-
right slogans and maga hats. Now you don't just have some randomer endorsing
your product, suddenly your family friendly business is being accused of been
forking money over to neo-nazis.

~~~
Harvey-Specter
Are you suggesting some law preventing individuals from commenting on products
and services unless they're being paid to do so?

Or only if the company providing those goods/services doesn't like what is
being said, or who is saying it?

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bobthepanda
At the very least people need to be liable for consequences that might occur
to the victim company if they are falsely representing themselves as being
sponsored by them.

Freedom of speech doesn't cover _false_ representations.

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dmitrybrant
News at 11.

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willart4food
Well, on a positive note, since they pay for those products themselves, they
can write off the cost from their taxes.

#thot_patrol

[https://www.reddit.com/r/thot_patrol/](https://www.reddit.com/r/thot_patrol/)

~~~
BadassFractal
I like justice porn as much as anybody else, but I wonder if some of these
outlets become more about venting one's misogyny, more than about pointing out
wrongdoing?

Lots of people out there who ascribe their grievances to a group of "others",
be that immigrants, ethnicities, genders etc. I can see those channels turning
into a confirmation bias echo chamber pretty quick.

~~~
Rotten194
IMO, it is just misogyny. They don't target the equivalent esports and gaming
personalities (mostly male) who do the same thing, and it's couched in the
language of "thots" instead of, you know, something thats not a derogatory
term for women. Plus, I find it really hard to believe that most of these
people actually care about fair taxation -- are they also informing the IRS
about the kid on their block making money mowing lawns, or their server
friends not reporting their cash tips? Give me a break.

