Saudi Cleric Weighs In On The Sin Of 'Buying Twitter Followers'

from the don't-do-it dept

It's no secret that it's possible to "buy" Twitter followers. This has always seemed to be a particularly pointless activity, but apparently it's common among some people who seem to feel the size of their Twitter following means something. That said, according to a Saudi Cleric, such activity is an out and out "sin" (hat tip to Will for sending over this story)
Senior scholar Sheikh Abdullah told Saudi online news site Sabq that it was “a lie and slander” to pay money to companies to create Twitter followers – thought to be a common practice among celebrities and religious figures in the kingdom.
Another person quoted in the same article, a Saudi clinical psychologist, suggested that such practices go beyond even ethical questions. According to Dr. Talal Thaqafi: "a person who pays money for the sake of increasing the number of followers has a weak and disturbed personality, and is unable to achieve that feat by any other means."

I'm just marveling that such a topic even warrants such scrutiny, but it is a sign of the pervasiveness of Twitter these days.
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Filed Under: buying followers, saudi cleric, sheikh abdullah, sins, twitter followers
Companies: twitter


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  1. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    first, 22 Aug 2012 @ 2:01am

    yay furst!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2012 @ 2:09am

    Re:

    Sorry, Mike beat you to it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    techflaws (profile), 22 Aug 2012 @ 2:12am

    I'm just marveling that such a topic even warrants such scrutiny

    Or that it warrants mentioning here.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 22 Aug 2012 @ 3:38am

    Brain thing

    a person who pays money for the sake of increasing the number of followers has a weak and disturbed personality

    I must spend too much time immersed in tech-y stuff. I read that sentence the first time as:

    a person who pays money for the sake of increasing the number of followers has a weak and distributed personality

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Ninja (profile), 22 Aug 2012 @ 3:44am

    Re:

    It's tech. And it's amusing. Who cares if some1 bought followers? Apparently Allah does.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Ninja (profile), 22 Aug 2012 @ 3:46am

    Re: Brain thing

    Crowdsourced personality?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2012 @ 4:11am

    Re: Re: Brain thing

    A kickstarter for your soul!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    abc gum, 22 Aug 2012 @ 4:53am

    idk, call me crazy - but one would think there are more important things for a cleric to be pontificating about.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2012 @ 5:49am

    "...suggested that such practices go beyond even ethical questions" from above in conjunction with:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/statistical-probability-that-mitt-rom neys-new-twitter-followers-are-just-normal-users-0/260539/

    I like where this is going.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2012 @ 6:27am

    I love how Howie Mandel promotes his Twitter so hardcore on AGT. I bet he would suck dick to gain followers lmao and I'd stake my life on the bet that 85% plus are paid followers.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Fickelbra (profile), 22 Aug 2012 @ 6:36am

    Re:

    Yeah, why mention this here?

    (Tech)nology - the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, methods of organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a preexisting solution to a problem, achieve a goal or perform a specific function

    Dirt - Slang gossip; scandalous information

    Twitter - an online social networking service and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as "tweets".

    Nope, don't see how the material above fits on this website at all. /s

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2012 @ 7:31am

    "it is a sign of the pervasiveness of Twitter these days."

    This is a very poor conclusion. I feel Techdirt has missed an important point: to a psychologist, every element of behavior is significant. There is no "It's just Twitter". Often in psychology it's the little things in human behavior that tell the most.
    Sorry, I know it's hard for someone who isn't educated in psychology to fully understand this and it's also hard for me to explain it to such a person.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Aug 2012 @ 2:06pm

    Re:

    *Whoosh*
    I believe they were referring to the fact that a religious figure felt the need to comment on the topic of Twitter follower purchasing. They weren't implying that Twitter brings this behaviour out in people.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2012 @ 8:19am

    Re:

    Not at all. Paying for Twitter followers is a case of dishonesty to gain attention, which is in turn a case of black lying to the public. It is a fine thing that a cleric should be successfully making this connection and directing the attention of the public to the moral problems.

    Many clerics struggle with successfully identifying moral problems. It is a very fine thing that this cleric has done such a good job.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2012 @ 4:34pm

    "it is a sign of the pervasiveness of Twitter these days."

    lol, no it isnt, people have been buying followers since man created religion

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Bbros, 5 Dec 2012 @ 2:24am

    DONT BUY FAKE TWITTER FOLLOWERS - You can get REAL & TARGETED Twitter Followers that are actually REAL people at http://twitterbomb.co.uk

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    sussie, 17 Feb 2013 @ 1:39pm

    Re: Brain thing

    For starters its good to have a good number of social followers. it increases credibility at the same time it also adds a good confidence for your website. it will definitely help as a short term goal, and you have an ample time to build your real followers as well. You can buy Twitter followers cheap here - http://socialmediacombo.com .. It was referred to us by colleague and we've been using this company's services since last year..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    Media Combo (profile), 13 Jul 2019 @ 9:03am

    Re: Re:

    I agree. The idea of buying social followers does not make any sense and I don't even know how influential and religious people fall into this dishonest practice.

    I was reading at Medium and I can't even believe, according to this article https://medium.com/@laurenholliday_/how-to-increase-your-instagram-followers-by-7x-in-30-days-6586bb 1ec510 , that back then it was Twitter followers and now we have the same dishonest practice on Instagram. These social media platforms should star banning users that fall into this practice.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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