Smartphone maker Xiaomi has alleged that more than 900 bots and fake Twitter accounts have discredited the company's new Redmi K20 phone, claiming it was too expensive. According to Xiaomi's India marketing head Anuj Sharma, 137 accounts tweeted #overpriced more than 100 times a day.
“The handlers were undoubtedly spending to make us look overpriced,” he said. “The irony!”
Sharma said Xiaomi had handed the matter over to its legal team, but did not reveal who was behind the campaign. Additionally, the company claims that it has created tools to filter fraudulent comments and profiles on social media so that it can take action against them.
These incidents are similar to those that occurred with an e-commerce marketplace, which used its network of digital influencers to combat tweets about alleged violations of foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations. The system worked and ensured that discrediting comments were no longer trending on Twitter.
However, companies are not only facing online trolls, they are forced to budget for them – carefully monitoring opponents and negative feedback online. For example, several large multinational consumer electronics companies are using bloggers and technology reviewers to evaluate feedback and ensure that certain reviews are published and others are not.
Most companies now track online comments in real time to identify potential concerns early on, but figuring out who is behind the activity is largely guesswork. Unfortunately, digital influencers, merchandise reviewers and fake accounts mean that many brands are paying heavily for campaigns to disparage the competition.
“Several big names are using digital media and spending a lot of money to create negative reports about rivals. All affordable brands are hit by this,” explained Avneet Singh Marwah, chief executive of electronics maker Super Plastronics (and retailer of Kodak and Thomson). “It’s a challenge to control them.”
Indian consumer electronics company BPL encountered this when it discovered that a negative comment about its stock was deemed “helpful” by 400 users.
“Although it is unfair, only well-resourced brands can afford to do this or challenge it with their army of digital influencers,” said Manmohan Ganesh, COO, BPL India.
Derogatory comments about products or companies are common in the electronics industry. What makes them particularly concerning, according to research from community platform LocalCircles, is that most customers rely on product reviews to make purchases.