March 26, 2023

THREAD: This type of Twitter account, right here, is among the worst on this platform. It's a spam account that manipulates the empathy and compassion of users with the sole purpose of getting maximum engagement and building as large an audience as possible. Let's take a look. pic.twitter.com/oKOS1Ajrrj — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
Let's start by checking its profile photo. Run a simple reverse image search and you'll quickly see that not only has the image been taken from the internet, but it's a digitally-altered image of Turkish actress Özge Gürel. It's not a real person. Not a good start. pic.twitter.com/hIC0q5HuVJ — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
Now, let's check some of its content. Here, it claims to be disabled and asks for retweets and birthday wishes. The tweet did reasonably well. Lots of people responded. But a simple reverse search reveals that's Canadian wheelchair racer Michelle Stilwell in 2012. pic.twitter.com/8d9Pw71xwF — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
Here, it asks for prayers for its friend, who appears to be in a critical condition. Reverse search the image and you'll see the "friend" is a young woman from Massachusetts, who was hospitalised in 2016 after a vodka binge and subsequently recovered. pic.twitter.com/b23jCRUQXq — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
Here, again, it pretends to be disabled and asks for retweets and likes, which it gets. Reverse search shows that's Brazilian fitness model Paola Antonini in 2016, whose left leg was amputated after a horrific car accident and replaced with a prosthetic leg. H/T @hoaxeye pic.twitter.com/nhLaBDy0bi — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
The account claims to be a drawing artist and graphic designer. Let's look at some of its art. The first one is actually by US artist Heather Rooney. The second one is by Turkish artist Musa Çelik. Literally all the art it posts as its own work is stolen. pic.twitter.com/71DZvLJYd4 — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
Now, why does it matter? The account posts plenty of misinformation, but it's not calling for violence or benefiting either politically or financially. Well, the problem is, once the account has built a big enough audience and engagement, it can be used for nefarious purposes. — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
It can suddenly change tack and start posting about political or social issues. It can be bought and sold for a variety of dodgy purposes. It can start asking for sponsored tweets. It can be used as part of a scam. It can be repurposed as part of an information operation. — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT
The account is likely part of a wider network of inauthentic accounts. They all claim to be artists, have fake names and profile photos, post stolen art, farm engagement and following. Alarmingly, some have donation links in their bios. There are many more. H/T @DarrenLinvill pic.twitter.com/zpRy0FwvC1 — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 25, 2023ALT

7:16am  |   URL: https://tmblr.co/ZHMMYrdaaqVIKi00
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Filed under: scam accounts scam artists scammer misinformation twitter shayan sardarizadeh disinformation 
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