24 November 2011
Fake forum comments are 'eroding' trust in the web
bbc.co.uk
Trust in information on the web is being damaged by the huge numbers of people paid by companies to post comments online, say researchers.
Fake posters can "poison" debate and make people unsure about who they can trust, the study suggests.
Some firms have created tens of thousands of fake accounts to flood chat forums and skew debate.
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While the practice of flooding forums with fake comments is most widespread in China, where such posters are called the Internet Water Army, it is becoming common in other nations too.
The US military is known to use fakes to infiltrate chat forums to gather information about potential terror groups.
Similarly many Facebook pages are plagued by bogus friends and "social bots" that are used to stage debates.
Many marketing firms also seed forums with comments in a bid to create "viral" interest in a company or event.
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Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15869683
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