Surprise: Boris Johnson can work a computer. Actually I wonder if this was the moment he realised that someone besides himself has apparently created a huge army of fake followers to make him look popular online.
No – Boris Johnson isn’t fantastically popular. But it seems BoJob loyalists are trying to make it seem that way, using automated Twitter accounts to artificially boost the amount of support his tweets get.
And it seems they’ll try to silence anyone pointing this out by trying to log into the critic’s Twitter account for malicious purposes.
What charming friends Mr Johnson has! Can they be prosecuted for this behaviour?
Chris Furlong is the left-wing activist who discovered the rather clumsy attempt at sleight-of-hand. He pointed it out as follows:
The latest @BorisJohnson tweet got thousands of retweets & likes within an hour. However, when you check the accounts retweeting/liking it,many have no or very few followers, never tweeted themselves, brand new accounts. Who is paying for the many thousands in The Boris Bot Army? pic.twitter.com/yatiNnXx5h
— One eighth of a mile (@EighthOfAMile_) August 20, 2019
And he continued with a thread on the subject, beginning as follows:
This is @Supergosh1 . It has two followers. It was set up nearly 19 months ago but has never tweeted. In fact there is only two activities on the account in all that time. One of them is liking a @BorisJohnson tweet. #BorisBotArmy pic.twitter.com/t9Fl4MaCHG
— One eighth of a mile (@EighthOfAMile_) August 22, 2019
It’s a long thread, in which every entry continues in the same vein as the above. Check it out for yourself.
Then matters took a more similar turn, when he revealed that his account was suffering multiple attempts to hack into it:
Revenge of the #BorisBotArmy ? For the first time since my account was opened there has been a number of login attempts of my account or as Twitter call it "Looks like there was a login attempt from a new device or location". Someone is not happy with what I have posted. pic.twitter.com/3TqeHXB3ub
— One eighth of a mile (@EighthOfAMile_) August 24, 2019
Is the Conservative Party telling its paid social media campaigners (the Tories admitted employing such a group a while ago) to falsely boost its leader’s social media profile? And is it also telling them to target whistleblowers?
That’s what Skwawkbox has suggested – and you can read its account of this phenomenon here.
Personally, having written the piece you are reading now, I’ll just wait and see if anything untoward happens to any of my own accounts.
Let me know if you see any weird tweets purporting to be from me, won’t you?
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Ths tells you everything you need to know to make life diffiult for our Circus Performer in Clowning Street – media coverage is everything to him (rather than use those efforts to make a difference to peoples lives).
Truthfully highlight as many of his (and his fellow self-serving Tories) failings as you can and you’re on to a winner !