You Hate to See Ray Lewis Lose Half His Twitter Followers Because They're Bots He Probably Paid For

Source – [Fake Twitter] accounts belong to customers of an obscure American company named Devumi that has collected millions of dollars in a shadowy global marketplace for social media fraud. Devumi sells Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses and anyone who wants to appear more popular or exert influence online.  …

These accounts are counterfeit coins in the booming economy of online influence, reaching into virtually any industry where a mass audience — or the illusion of it — can be monetized. … These fake accounts, known as bots, can help sway advertising audiences and reshape political debates. They can defraud businesses and ruin reputations. Yet their creation and sale fall into a legal gray zone. …

The Times reviewed business and court records showing that Devumi has more than 200,000 customers, including reality television stars, professional athletes, comedians, TED speakers, pastors and models. In most cases, the records show, they purchased their own followers. … The actor John Leguizamo has Devumi followers. So do Michael Dell, the computer billionaire, and Ray Lewis, the football commentator and former Ravens linebacker.

This is just a tough break for Ray Lewis. You hate to see him lose 50% of his followers like they’re a white suit splattered in blood. Just hate to see it. Especially when he without a doubt paid good money for them. And it’s not like those fake followers were under warranty or Devumi offers a refund if Twitter ever decides to purge them. That money is gone. As are those 350,000 dummy accounts. Gone like Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. Except they were real, flesh and blood human beings. Unlike half of Ray’s audience.

Of course the joke is really on those non-existent Twitterers. Because if they were real and followed him they wouldn’t be missing out on life-changing gems like these:

He’s just a Wisdom Factory. An assembly line of philosophical insight, working three shifts to produce these badly punctuated, Fortune Cookie-level affirmations 24 hours a day. So the jokes on anyone who’s not real enough to read them.

And hey, it’s not like he’s alone in this. Even I lost followers in this purge. By my math, 0.5 percent to Ray’s 51 percent. Not that I paid for them; just that we’re all victims to some extent. Then again, I haven’t posed for the cover of Sports Illustrated praying to my Lord and Savior even once. And Ray’s done it twice. So let’s see what my and his favorite book has to say about deceiving people so you’ll look more popular than you really are:

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. – Proverbs 12:22

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. – Colossians 3:9

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. – Proverbs 10:9

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. – Ephesians 5:6

Ouch. I’m no theologian, like my man the Pro Football Hall of Famer Elect here. But if I interpret this right, lies make the Baby Jesus cry. God gets all sorts of unholy pissed off when you deceive the public to satisfy your own ego. And will unleash some real Old Testament wrath on anyone who does. Which is just terrible to hear. Sorry Ray Lewis. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.