Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are top of the list of Formula 1 drivers with the most fake followers on Twitter, the pair with literally millions of non-existent followers making up the huge numbers they supposedly have on Elon Musk’s platform.
The study conducted by gambling.com to establish the true nature of Twitter followers amid a crisis of online abuse and fake news that often has origins on social media platforms, where agitators spin out of-control ‘reports’ to blur reality from fiction, inciting the factions, that have emerged in F1 in recent years, to spew their own abusive narrative protected by IP addresses and social media giants with little desire to address the issues.
Verstappen and Hamilton, are well aware of the issues afflicting social media, both speaking out against the scourge of abuse and suggesting social media companies get their house in order by proper policing of their networks.
They are not alone, Lando Norris, George Russell, Nicholas Latifi, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, all of then have spoken about their concerns the damage that online abuse and hate speech do to the sport and its people, let alone society as a whole.
The FIA is spearheading the cyber-war with high-tech tools, while F1 in general are in the throes of joining the push against digital maggots that infest every sport and just about every facet of modern life, a rancid minority spoiling the huge potential of social media for the majority.
The emphasis on social media starting now will be on the quality of followers, not the quantity
Thus, the research team at gambling.com, in their quest to find out which F1 drivers and teams have the most fake followers on Twitter used the following methodology to come to their conclusions:
- Gambling.com used SparkToro to analyse the Twitter accounts of every F1 driver and team.
- Their tool uses a sample of 2,000 random followers and runs diagnostics to recognise the following types of fake followers: bots, spam accounts, inactive users, propaganda, or other non-engaged/non-real users.
- Sebastian Vettel was not included in the study as he doesn’t have a Twitter account.
- Finally, each driver and team were ranked from highest to lowest percentage of fake followers.
- In instances where two drivers/teams had the same percentage of fake followers, the ranking was determined by who had the largest number of fake followers.
- All data was collected on 10/11/2022 and correct on this date.
Results of the F1 Fake Followers study established the following:
- Max Verstappen has the highest percentage of fake followers, with 43.2% – Mick Schumacher is a close second on 43.1%.
- Lewis Hamilton has the highest number of fake followers overall, with almost three million (37.5%). Sergio Pérez is runner-up with over 1.4 million.
- When it comes to racing teams, McLaren has the highest percentage of fake followers. Red Bull are second (43%), while Alfa Romeo have the third highest (42.3%).
- Although they only possess the fourth-highest percentage of fake followers, Mercedes still has the highest number of fake followers among the teams. Their total of 1,866,293 is almost 50k ahead of Red Bull in second.
- McLaren are the racing team with the most fake followers on Twitter. It’s estimated that 44.6% of their followers aren’t genuine.
The report by gambling.com comes in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his crackdown on fake accounts when he Tweeted: “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended.”
“In fact, “any name change at all would compel the temporary loss of a verified checkmark,” Musk added in what is the only sensible declaration of war against this cancer, paywall all social media to cut it out forever.
Twitter is not alone as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram are packed with fake followers
Notably, this gambling.com/ SparkToro study singles out Twitter, who now under Musk’s control are actively coming clean after years of allowing the digital maggots to fester.
But make no mistake, fake accounts are as prevalent, if not more so, on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and like Musk is doing at Twitter, it is time for the social networks and their billionaire bosses/owners to unite in this very public cyberwar and do the same.
Again, to survive the future, social media will have to be about quality verified followers, not the numbers that in the end mean nothing and are simply conduits for keyboard warriors to express their frustrations without care or concern for damage done, in fact getting off on the hate seems to permeate among digital maggots.
As Verstappen pointed out, social media giants need to calm the chaos and clean up their act, while Hamilton suggested we all switch off from the platforms. Not bad ideas from both our Champions.
About Gambling.com
Gambling.com is the flagship brand for Nasdaq listed Gambling.com Group (GAMB); a multi award-winning provider of digital marketing services for the global, regulated online gambling industry. The Group publishes informational portals that offer comparisons and reviews of regulated online gambling websites around the world.
Gambling.com Group is a media company and does not offer actual gambling services but helps online sportsbooks and casino operators acquire players. The group was founded by Charles Gillespie (CEO) and Kevin McCrystle (COO) in 2006 and has offices in Charlotte, NC; Tampa, FL; Dublin, Ireland; and Malta.