Click farms exploit laborers paid a dollar per thousand likes

Evidence

This blogger also discussed the imperative for potential affiliate program members to have “real” (verifiable) followers: “If all [of] your followers are from other countries, [brands are] going to know that those aren’t your ‘real’ followers, those are paid.” She added, “You have to actually build [social media audiences], otherwise they’re not really valuable.” The notion of “real followers” is a testament to the seedy black market for metrics that has infiltrated the ad-supported digital media sphere. In recent years, investigative journalists from the Guardian, New York Times, and New Republic have provided behind-the-scenes glimpses into the furtive practices of click farms, companies that sell Twitter followers and Facebook likes from fake accounts for individuals seeking a bump in their social media metrics. Though “onlining” (as one click farmer described the practice) is a booming global industry, many click farms are based in the developing world, and some have abysmal labor conditions. As the Guardian reported: “It is miserable work, sitting at screens in dingy rooms facing a blank wall, with windows covered by bars, and sometimes working through the night. For that, they could have to generate 1,000 likes or follow 1,000 people on Twitter to earn a single US dollar.” Accounts like these reveal just how wide the gulf is between sweatshop workers and the high-profile clientele; among those accused of click fraud are businesses (e.g., Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Louis Vuitton), celebrities (e.g., Paris Hilton, Diddy), and political candidates (e.g., Mitt Romney). — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love, 390

Categorization

• SEED: The systematic-click-farm economy beneath influencer metrics is a natural essay angle on the ‘realness’ economy, especially the developing-world labor conditions mirroring the aspirational creators’ own precarity.
• XREF: connects to: Influencer marketing amplifies loud privileged voices disproportionately — Brooke Erin Duffy, (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love:…, 486; Users freely did unpaid labor that increased Facebook’s own value — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1011

Broader Connections

• Users freely did unpaid labor that increased Facebook’s own value #qualifies (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1011