今日话题
昨天，外媒一篇挺奇幻的报导，让不少人都炸了……
这年头，谁没有个微博/知乎/美拍之类的社交帐号，都不好意思说自己是现代人。
和这种社交媒体打交道的多了，各种门道和套路也见怪不怪了。“僵尸粉”“水军”一类的词，在国外实在算不上新鲜。
但是……这些门道和套路，你以为只有中国才有吗？
昨天，美国大名鼎鼎的《纽约时报》就发表了一篇文章，标题和页面都还挺恐怖……
▲（僵尸）粉鞋厂(via The New York Times)
看着上图那些被割裂的脸，一种迷之毛骨悚然感不由涌上心头……
纽约时报这篇文章呢，就揭开了一个本以为不会出现在英国的行业——卖僵尸粉。
这家卖僵尸粉的公司名叫Devumi：
▲Devumi网站截图
虽然在卖僵尸粉，但这家网站丝毫不拘谨，直接明码标价，要啥粉有啥粉：
▲Twitter粉丝，12美元起卖。最少买500个，最多可买25万个。
▲Twitter的点赞和转发，9美元起卖。规格从“20赞+100转发”到“1万赞+1万转发”都有。
▲Youtube的点击量，17美元起卖。2000-500万的点击量都可以选择。
卖的还除了是Twitter和Youtube, 人家的服务涵括了好几个热门网站：
人家还再三跟你保证：我们家的僵尸粉都乖乖哒，会及时来到你怀里，性情温和好养不粘人，绝不泄漏你的隐私，价格也很公道……
那么，这家“僵尸粉鞋厂”的买卖做得咋样呢？
根据它们网站的说法，来买粉的人还是好多的……
"Devumi has helped over 200,000 businesses, celebrities, musicians, YouTubers and other pros gain more exposure and make a big impact to their audience," according to its website. → 过去两年里，有20多万的商人/明星/音乐家/播主等来买过粉
For instance, for less than $4,000, actor Ryan Hurst, a star of the television series “Sons of Anarchy,” bought a total of 750,000 followers in the past two years, about three-quarters of his current count. → 《混乱之子》的艺人哈斯特，就买了75万的粉！占了他总粉数的3/4！而且只花了不到4000块！
▲Devumi: The Social Media Company Selling 'Fake' Followers to Stars, Politicians (via thefashionlaw.com)
等等……说好的“不泄漏隐私”呢……确定前面这个名叫哈斯特的艺人不会打你么？！
按理来说，“卖粉”这种事情应当算不上多新鲜。毕竟互联网+注意力经济的时代，花钱买关注买吆喝也很常见嘛。再不济，若是真正的吆喝买不到，买点僵尸粉来撑撑场面也是好的。
虽然演出上去很难堪，但能营造出一种“我其实很红”的疗效，那不也挺好么~
但是，这家“僵尸粉鞋厂”本身，实在是饱含了各类奇特的槽点……
比方说，工厂的创始人Calas，就是一个让人无语的存在：
In speaking to the Times, Devumi’s founder, German Calas, 27, denied that his company sells fake followers.
While little is known about Calas, the Times uncovered an online resume in which Calas also claims to have graduated from Princeton University, “at about the age of 10,” per the Time.
His online resume claims he received a PhD in computer science from MIT in 2002, when he would have been just 12 years old.
▲Devumi: The Social Media Company Selling 'Fake' Followers to Stars, Politicians
从里面这几段里俺们能得出这种槽点：
1、创始人只有27岁
（90后？！年……年轻有为啊……）
2、创始人证实自己在卖僵尸粉
3、创始人堪称自己10岁那年大学结业
（什……什么？！）
4、创始人的简历显示，他2002年获得了计算机科学的PhD学位，还是麻省理工的
（2002年，当时他只有12岁吧……
就从名校博！士！毕！业！了！）
这……这是如何一个神奇的人类啊……
不仅这么，他开的这家僵尸粉鞋厂，所在地也非常奇特……
As for, Devumi, the company lists its address as being located on Manhattan's Seventh Avenue, when in reality, its headquarters is a small office suite above a Mexican restaurant in West Palm Beach, the Times found. → 公司堪称坐落曼哈顿第七大街，但实际上，它的“总部”是西棕榈滩一家法国餐厅里面的小办公室。
▲Devumi: The Social Media Company Selling 'Fake' Followers to Stars, Politicians
得了，这家公司从创始人到公司地址再到经营“业务”，真是处处透着一股子魔性啊……
僵尸即使了，居然还吃人？！
好吧……既然这家僵尸粉鞋厂的创始人12岁就在麻省理工读完博士了，我也不敢相信它们网站上所谓“两年顾客20万人”的鬼话了。
要是就说点谎话吹吹牛，倒也不至于如此造成公愤。
只是，这家鞋厂制造僵尸粉还不算。它的好多僵尸粉，都是用活人来造的……
Devumi, a company selling social media followers to users hoping to increase their influence (or manufacture its appearance), seemed to be using bots with information, pictures and biographies taken from real users. → 这家公司制造僵尸粉时，似乎会直接窃取真实用户的个人信息和图片等。
▲Faked: The Headquarters. The Followers. The Influence? (via The New York Times)
啥意思呢？
就是说，假如你的笔名叫Lily，头像是自己的自拍。那么这家公司制造了10个僵尸粉，它们很有可能全叫Lily，并且也有着和你那张自拍一模一样的头像……
——活生生就克隆出了10个你啊！
▲左边是真实的活人用户，右边是“吃”了活人的僵尸粉
这些“僵尸”们除了窃取了你的信息，它们可能就会窃取你发过的动态……嗯，就为了长得和你像一点，让它自己看上去更像个真实的活人……
这事儿还不是近来才有的。
早在去年5月，美国的联邦通信委员会(FCC)就被僵尸粉轰炸过。
当时，一大批僵尸粉把活人给“吃”了，伪装成活人发了各类评论……
“The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation,” read thousands of identical comments posted this week, seemingly by different concerned individuals. →成千上万的人评论留言，内容几乎是同一句
By midday Tuesday, the thread was inundated with versions of the comment. A search of the duplicated text found more than 58,000 results as of press time, with 17,000 of those posted in the last 24 hours alone. → 留言的数目极高，24小时17000条
The comments seem to be posted by different, real people, with addresses attached. But people contacted by The Verge said they did not write the comments and have no idea where the posts came from. → 但是，这些帐号的主人们纷纷站下来说，他们没有留过这样的言
“That doesn’t even sound like verbiage I would use,” says Nancy Colombo of Connecticut, whose name and address appeared alongside the comment. → “这留言 不是我写的，这语调言辞和我完全不一样啊！”
“I have no idea where that came from,” says Lynn Vesely, whose Indiana address also appeared, and who was surprised to hear about the comment. → “我留言了？没有啊！我都不知道这留言咋来的！”
▲Anti-net neutrality spammers are impersonating real people to flood FCC comments (via The Verge)
嗯。盗用你的身分，以你的名义发表观点。（感觉窃取你的名义干各类坏事也不远了……这锅谁敢背
）
果然，这些僵尸粉若是在一些大事件里刷刷存在感——比如16年的日本首相大选——那就细思恐极了……
The use of automated bots and accounts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been thrust into the public consciousness in recent months as major social media sites have confirmed that such tools were deployed during the 2016 Presidential election, and after bots were used for online public commenting periods, and other events.
▲New York’s attorney general is investigating a company that sells fake followers on social media (via The Verge)
原来水如此深啊……
面对如此妖孽的事情，这回，政府方面终于是要做点哪些了。
纽约的总检察长很快表示，要查一查那家奇特的“僵尸粉鞋厂”：
▲“假冒与误导都是违背伦敦法律的！这家公司也许在窃取真实用户的信息制做僵尸粉，我们正对它展开调查。”
而与此同时，有意思的是，一批在这家僵尸粉鞋厂买过粉的“大V”们，也被揭发了下来……
其中包括美国一枚电视面点师，就是在电视上教你煮饭的那个：
Paul Hollywood: British TV chef
The investigation showed Devumi-managed bots following Paul Hollywood's official Twitter profile. Shortly after the paper emailed him to ask questions, his account was deleted.
以及给CNN写政治评论的一枚大鳄：
Hilary Rosen: political commentator
The CNN contributor has paid for over 500,000 Twitter followers - although most have been deleted. She said it was "an experiment I did several years ago to see how it worked".
买了50万粉，又把那些粉几乎删光了。人家堪称“我是几年前买的，就是想实验一下，看这个僵尸粉买卖是如何运转的~”
好吧，删光50万个粉……这不会是要一个一个地自动删除吧……
你在微博等社交媒体上，有被僵尸粉手动关注转发的经历吗？你会如何对待那些僵尸粉的恐吓？欢迎留言分享讨论！
文：lanlan
图：外媒、网络
题图：NYT
