Blue Check, Please

August 31, 2022 2:08 PM

Buying a fake musician profile on Apple/Spotify in order to get a blue check on Instagram is a way for numerous non-musicians to gain cred and boost their brand: "The verification scheme identified by ProPublica exploited music platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, as well as Google search, to create fake musician profiles. The songs uploaded to client profiles were often nothing more than basic looping beats or, in at least one case, extended periods of dead air. They credited composers with nonsense names such as “rhusgls stadlhvs” and “kukyush fhehjer.” The Meta employees tasked with reviewing the musician verification applications apparently failed to listen to the tracks or look too closely."

"The people running the scheme also purchased articles promoting fake artists and their music on websites, including hip-hop publications like The Source and ThisIs50.com, a music and culture site affiliated with rapper 50 Cent. They often bought fake comments and likes for clients’ Instagram posts to make the accounts look popular and purchased fake streams for songs on Spotify, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the operation. One source said some clients were told to rent a recording studio and post photos on Instagram that made it look like they were working on music."

posted by oneirodynia (18 comments total)

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.
posted by heatherlogan at 2:26 PM on August 31, 2022 [6 favorites]

Some day the Internet will just be a box in a closet somewhere in Palo Alto where bots eternally scam other bots.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:26 PM on August 31, 2022 [14 favorites]

Now I wonder if this is related to the topic of this post from three days ago...
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:28 PM on August 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

> The people running the scheme also purchased articles promoting fake artists and their music on websites

FWIW this article seems to be just exactly this for "DJ Dr. 6ix". It's basically a nonsense article rambling on vaguely about how innovative and groundbreaking DJ Dr. 6ix's music is.

I tried to track down any of "DJ Dr. 6ix"'s music still online, just to hear for myself how terrible it must be, but it seems to have been scrubbed from the internet rather thoroughly.
posted by flug at 2:44 PM on August 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

[N]othing more than basic looping beats or, in at least one case, extended periods of dead air.

Kids these days and their weird music!
posted by Going To Maine at 3:05 PM on August 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

I object to this slander!
posted by kukyush fhehjer at 3:18 PM on August 31, 2022 [32 favorites]

DJ Dr. 6ix

I’m trying so hard to be mad about this scam, but between the hilarious badness of that article and the apparent Sifl and Olly reference, I just can’t unsmirk properly.
posted by armeowda at 3:25 PM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Not to abuse the edit window: I can definitely unsmirk at his sexual misconduct.
posted by armeowda at 3:27 PM on August 31, 2022

Some day the Internet will just be a box in a closet somewhere in Palo Alto where bots eternally scam other bots.
Can you prove it's not this already?

When I thought about this beyond just 'what a bunch of wankers', I realised there are real people out there who have held these fake accounts in high regard and seen them as something to aspire to. But it's just an endless loop of no substance. I don't have any sympathy for those seeking to generate fake credibility or for those pandering to them, but I do feel for the people whose heroes are nothing but scams.
posted by dg at 3:33 PM on August 31, 2022

a box in a closet somewhere in Palo Alto

No one can afford a closet in Palo Alto anymore. That box is in Gilroy, and just spoofing a Palo Alto IP.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:40 PM on August 31, 2022 [29 favorites]

I love (read: hate) that rather than properly solving the problem of impostor accounts and scammers, these platforms have created an entire social status system that ends up being scammed and gamed itself. If blue checks really were "this person is who they claim they are" rather than "this person is sufficiently famous or important to get through our process," there would be no status conferred and therefore no reason to scam it.
posted by primethyme at 4:11 PM on August 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

A head of garlic in Gilroy
posted by Going To Maine at 4:14 PM on August 31, 2022

A head of garlic in Gilroy

"A novel of love, loss, and flavorful bread."
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:27 PM on August 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

If blue checks really were "this person is who they claim they are" rather than "this person is sufficiently famous or important to get through our process," there would be no status conferred and therefore no reason to scam it.

Exactly and, once again, Meta is at the epicentre of trying to scam the whole world. I had naively thought that the various 'verified' statuses assigned by platforms meant exactly that - the person had been verified as being the person they claimed to be to avoid people falsely claiming to be someone well-known. I guess I learned something today.
posted by dg at 5:10 PM on August 31, 2022

flug: " It's basically a nonsense article"

And what a wonderful nonsense article it is:

"Nobody can believe how big this song has become in such a short period of time. Because everyone who hears the music will hear it."
posted by Bugbread at 6:37 PM on August 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Some day the Internet will just be a box in a closet somewhere in Palo Alto where bots eternally scam other bots.

Wait. What if we're those bots in a box?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:30 PM on August 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: Where bots eternally scam other bots.
posted by Billiken at 8:22 AM on September 1, 2022

I'm waiting for the Metafilter Steering Committee of 2203 to send back an account from the future to ban you.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 8:42 AM on September 1, 2022 [1 favorite]