Image: Jeff Zelevansky / getty
By Jack Morse
You can’t buy friends, but man oh man Michael Bloomberg sure is trying.
The recent Republican and current candidate for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination has made waves with a shady social media marketing campaign that veered hard into sponcon. But that, it seems, was just the tip of the iceberg. The latest example of suspicious online activity in support of the billionaire comes in the form of a number of now-suspended Twitter accounts singing their identical pro-Bloomberg praises.
First reported by the Los Angeles Times, on Friday Twitter suspended 70 Bloomberg fan accounts it determined were in violation of its rules.
“We have taken enforcement action on a group of accounts for violating our rules against platform manipulation and spam,” a Twitter spokesperson confirmed to Mashable over email.
In question were a host of identical tweets linking to a pro-Bloomberg tweet from, of all people, Barbra Streisand. “A President is Born: Barbra Streisand sings Mike’s praises. Check out her tweet,” read the now-removed tweets.
As for the Streisand tweet in question?
“A very generous man who puts his money where his mouth is,” it read in part.
A very generous man who puts his money where his mouth is… especially about climate change, gun safety and so many other good causes. Donald Trump’s foundation was shut down for fraud.https://t.co/z35CQ0i1HE
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) February 15, 2020
Twitter confirmed to Mashable that some of the accounts pushing the copy-and-paste job have been permanently suspended, while others are now being forced to cough up additional details to help prove a real person is behind them.
“To ensure that violators do not abuse the anonymity we offer and harass others on the platform,” the policy reads, “we may require the account owner to verify ownership with a phone number or email address.”
One of the now-suspended accounts.
Image: screenshot / twitter
At issue is a specific section of Twitter rules, which prohibit the very behavior these pro-Bloomberg accounts engaged in.
“You can’t artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts,” read the rules. “This includes: coordination – creating multiple accounts to post duplicative content or create fake engagement[.]”
SEE ALSO: The tech product that made Bloomberg rich is a perfect metaphor for his candidacy
We reached out to the Bloomberg presidential campaign for comment, but received no immediate response. Perhaps his large and well paid staff is too busy trying to find actual examples of authentic online support?
