With the new section of the TOS regarding Scripting/Bot Usage/False engagement through third party sources;
If someone has been found to have been inflating their engagement with bots, is there a way to remove the false engagement so stores aren't recruiting folks who have been using these methods to appear more influential?
It seems unfair and unjust that someone can engage in third party acts like this, get their numbers up, and therefore secure opportunities over folks who are doing the genuine work simply because they APPEAR more profitable.
If there is no way to separate real engagement from what was falsely gained, perhaps in the interest of making the platform safe and honest while also taking a stance against these activities, wouldn’t it make sense to set the engagement of accounts, proven to have used third party means to boost their numbers, to 0 on every shared photo, as well as remove it from the Public Gallery?
While it will also remove true engagement, it would further make it clear that the risk of using outside means to boost numbers means ALL engagement, real and fabricated, will be lost on a post if the account is proven to have used third party engagement enhancers.
I am curious if you are able to also verify third party means for followers as well? If it is possible to use third party means to boost engagement on individual posts, then I would suspect it is also possible they are being used to inflate followers. Perhaps accounts investigated for these methods should also have that area looked at?
Perhaps add a requirement for those accounts being caught using third party means to boost engagement that in order to avoid permanent suspension, they must agree to having their entire body of work reviewed and if false engagement is found, having that content reset to 0 engagement. Perhaps add that they cannot remove the posts found to have been falsely inflated as that would mitigate the effects of the agreement and hide what they had done. This is a severe violation of trust and should be treated as such.
