Rantic

{{short description|Social media marketing website}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}

{{Infobox website

|name = Rantic Marketing

|logo =

|logocaption =

|screenshot =

|collapsible =

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|url = {{URL|http://www.rantic.com/}}

|commercial =

|type = Social media marketing

|registration = No

|language = English

|content_license =

|owners = Simon Z (CEO){{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonha-revesencio/climbing-a-mountain--care_b_8068580.html|title=Climbing A Mountain -- Career Advice from Simon Z, CEO of Rantic.com|last=Revesencio|first=Jonha|date=August 31, 2015|accessdate=September 5, 2015|work=The Huffington Post}}
"Jacob"
"Juice"
"Jerry"
"Alexander"
"Kamaruzaman"

|author =

|launch_date = 2012

|alexa =

|revenue = Unknown

|current_status = Up

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}}

Rantic.com (formerly SocialVEVO and Swenzy) is a social media marketing website that sells fake likes, followers, views and web traffic.{{cite news|url=http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/252920|title=6 Quick Tips for a Successful Startup Social-Media Campaign|last=Langdon|first=Scott|date=December 3, 2015|work=Entrepreneur}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/07/02/can-we-ever-beat-the-bots-not-on-instagram/|title=Can we ever beat the bots? Not on Instagram.|last=Carpenter|first=Julia|date=July 2, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=July 2, 2015}}{{cite news|url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/friends-and-influence-for-sale-online/?_r=0|title=Friends, and Influence, for Sale Online|last=Bilton|first=Nick|date=April 20, 2014|work=The New York Times}}

Background

Rantic.com was registered in 2014 by a group of internet marketers.{{cite web|last=Hoffberger|first=Chase|url=http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/headline-story/15007/cheap-youtube-views/|title=The new kings of YouTube botting|website=The Daily Dot|date=November 15, 2015|accessdate=December 5, 2015}} The group also has used the names SocialVEVO and Swenzy.{{cite web|last=Alfonso|first=Fernando III|url=http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/emma-watson-nude-countdown-socialvevo-4chan/|title=The serial hoax artists behind ...|website=The Daily Dot|date=September 24, 2014|accessdate=March 21, 2015}} During an interview with Vocativ, one of five people claiming to be founders said the online business was created by "Jacob, Jerry, Juice, Alexander and Kamaruzaman".{{cite web|last=Markowitz|first=Eric|url=http://www.vocativ.com/tech/hacking/rantic-emma-watson-nude-photo-hoax/|title=This guy claims to be the mastermind ...|website=Vocativ|date=December 9, 2014|accessdate=March 21, 2015}} The CEO is listed as Simon Z and consumers are said to include musicians, teens, celebrities, politicians and governments, according to a New York Times and Forbes report.{{cite news|title=8 Ways Marketers Are Being Heard In 2015|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/08/19/8-ways-marketers-are-being-heard-in-2015/|accessdate=2015-08-24|work=Forbes|date=August 19, 2015|first=Steve|last=Olenski}} The website sells "fake account" services for social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, a potential violation of these sites' terms of service.{{cite web|last=Eordogh|first=Fruzsina|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/inside-an-instagram-bot-farm/|title=Inside An Instagram Bot Farm|website=VICE|date=August 10, 2015|access-date=August 10, 2015}}

In 2014, an online threat to release nude photos of actor Emma Watson turned out to be a hoax orchestrated by Rantic. Following Watson's launch of a UN gender equality campaign, a website emerged claiming photos of the actor would be released via 4chan. When the countdown ended the site redirected users to Rantic.com where a message claimed the group aimed to shut down 4chan.{{cite news |last=Roy |first=Jessica |title=How a Fake Viral Marketing Firm Convinced the Internet 4Chan Was Going to Leak Nude Photos of Emma Watson |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2014/09/rantic-marketing-4chan-emma-watson-leak-hoax.html |access-date=21 April 2021 |publisher=New York Magazine |date=24 September 2014}}

In April 2015, a Facebook engineer said the site's effort to crack down on the "small problem", coupled with an effort to help pages gain authentic followers instead, had shut down most of the fake "like" sellers.{{cite web|author=Huseyin Kerem Cevahir|url=https://www.facebook.com/business/news/fighting-fake-likes-update|title=Breaking New Ground In the Fight Against Fake Likes|website=Facebook for business|date=April 17, 2015|accessdate=April 21, 2015}} Rantic called itself one of fewer than a dozen such companies remaining,{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-fake-like-sellers-destroyed-by-sites-efforts-to-clean-up-pages-10189026.html|title=Facebook fake like sellers destroyed by site's efforts to clean up pages|last=Griffin|first=Andrew|date=April 20, 2015|work=The Independent|accessdate=April 21, 2015}} and has promised to refill any "likes" or followers lost to account sweeps by the operators of sites including Facebook and Instagram.{{cite news|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/instagram-could-delete-10-million-accounts-it-cracks-down-spam-1749914|title=Instagram Could Delete Up To 10 Million Accounts|last=Rodriguez|first=Salvador|date=December 11, 2014|work=International Business Times|accessdate=March 21, 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-purges-likes-with-pages-fan-counts-expected-to-plunge-10091151.html|title=Facebook purges 'Likes', with pages' fan counts expected to plunge|last=Griffin|first=Andrew|date=March 6, 2015|work=The Independent}}

See also

References

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