Gamers offer up to BRL 10,000 for Twitter ‘blue stamp’ purchase

European and American gamers offer US$ 2,000 (about R$ 10,900) in exchange for the blue seal, which identifies verified user accounts on Twitter. The objective is to use the brand and the credibility given by it to share NFT (non-fungible tokens) game ads.

NFT games have become popular with the promise of offering money with ease.

The blue seal is a certificate of notoriety provided by Twitter to anyone who works in government, media, companies and organizations, or who is an activist or an influential individual by the standards of the social network.

To obtain it, you must prove one of these performances, and the platform does not charge anything for verification.

In a statement, Twitter says the seal is not sellable. “The company does not sell the seal and does not authorize any external agent or individual to sell verification on the platform. The way to obtain the blue seal is by filling out a request form.”

But the buying and selling of social media engagement works clandestinely.

A Brazilian, who claims to live in Taboão da Serra, in Greater São Paulo, made a proposal to one of the authors of this text through a private message on Twitter.

Then, he passed on his WhatsApp number and profile on the Discord digital platform. On this last channel, he invited to a video chat in which he detailed the scheme.

First, he introduces himself as a “middleman”, a kind of intermediary, and says that the interested party from abroad is willing to pay between US$ 1,700 (R$ 9,200) and US$ 2,000 (R$ 10,900). Payment, he says, is done through virtual currency.

Asked who would use the seal, he said that, in general, young Americans and Europeans. According to this intermediary, these foreign users receive large sums on each post related to the NFT market.

If the deal is closed, the intermediary receives a commission of up to 15%.

He also promises a kind of advice until the time the seller receives the money. For this, he says he sends videos explaining how to create an account at a cryptocurrency exchange and, subsequently, how to convert the asset to Brazilian currency.

The reporter did not have access to this instruction because, for that, it would have to accept the proposal, delivering the Twitter profile as well as the email with the password in which the social network account is registered.

The platform always requires the user to confirm their identity via email if they access the social network from another device and from a location different from where they usually use the network.

Therefore, the intermediary guides the deletion of messages and the exchange of email in the registration of banking or common use applications, such as Uber and iFood.

It also suggests that it is possible to delete followers or even block them. For the future owner, only the blue seal matters. It will also buy thousands of followers to fill the account.

During the video conversation, which was recorded, the intermediary presented an example of a profile that, after being sold by a Brazilian, jumped from 8,000 to 61,000 followers.

Twitter’s clandestine blue badge offer is not as common as other social networks. In general, the engagement market, which involves likes, comments and followers, is increasingly wide open on the internet, as the image on the social network has become a source of income.

You can find sellers with a simple search. In addition to verification and likes, stories view (content that lasts 24 hours on Instagram) and robot followers are also on sale.

Platforms prohibit the practice, but enforcement is far from overturning this market. Prominent accounts like that of Jair Renan Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), hint at how easy it is to acquire fake engagement.

“If you want to increase the visibility of your profile, sales, engagement, I will leave here a profile of my trust”, said Renan in a recent short video.

The report exchanged messages with the seller indicated by Renan, who presented a menu with packages from 100 to 20 thousand followers, with the respective cost of R$ 10 and R$ 650.

The price of a thousand likes is BRL 30. According to the seller, views of stories, which “cheat” Instagram, giving the profile more popularity, range from BRL 10 (300 views) to BRL 29 (thousand views).

Another company that sells engagement on Instagram sells themed profiles with thousands of posts. Over the phone, the saleswoman makes the offer: “The page is called Making Gossip, entertainment, with all real, organic followers. We never use any kind of automation. It costs R$5,000.”

The account has more than 3,000 posts with screenshots from other gossip pages or from ordinary users who publish content about celebrities.

After being contacted by the report, Instragram removed the account for considering a violation of its terms of use.

Researcher Isabela Inês Bernardino, from Instituto Vero, led a detailed study on the parallel engagement market. The research analyzed 108 profiles that sell artificial interactions — the verification seal, she said, tends to be rarer.

“People increasingly dream of becoming an internet personality and often they don’t even have the patience to do it organically and naturally. They opt for alternative methods that violate the platforms’ terms of use”, he says.

Inauthentic interactions are banned on major digital platforms. Instagram says users cannot sell, license, or buy any accounts or data obtained through its service.

In a statement, the company claims that fake engagement services, which artificially increase an account’s popularity by buying and selling likes, comments and followers, violate its terms.

“We dedicate significant resources to combating these types of abuse on our platforms and, when detected, we consider all applicable options, including suspension and removal of accounts. In some cases, we take legal action against those responsible,” he says.

Twitter adds that “Individuals who offer to buy or sell verification are subject to loss of verified status and permanent suspension from the platform”, and that the spam and manipulation policy prohibits selling, buying and trading accounts, usernames or temporary access. to accounts.