SMM panel
A SMM Panel (social media marketing panel) is a website that fraudulent social media marketing -Services as YouTube -Calls, Instagram - Likes and Facebook -Followers offering. Such panels mostly come from high risk countries like India or Vietnam, which avoids potential prosecution.
Offers of SMM panels
SMM panels offer everything to do with social media. So you can buy followers, likes, clicks and much more for all conceivable platforms from YouTube to TikTok to LinkedIn.
Some providers go a step further and sell a blue tick on Instagram or Google ratings.
The prices here vary greatly. The example of YouTube views shows that some providers offer these for 14 euros per 1000; others charge 1.25 euros per 1000.
Link via API
The system of the SMM panels is based to a large extent on the order transfer via API . This allows orders to be automatically forwarded to a cheaper provider who will automatically debit the order. Because everything works automatically, the panel operators have no work until a service no longer works properly or the actual service provider, to whom the orders for a large number of panels are transmitted via detours, stops the service. As in a "big spider web", the providers automatically transmit their orders to cheaper providers, who automatically pass them on. The very cheap providers usually have no imprint.
Sales of SMM panels
The operator of the website 500views.com mentioned in an interview with The New York Times sales figures of 30,000 euros per month.
risk
Because website operators only forward their orders and do not process them themselves, it often happens that services do not work. In the terms and conditions of trade, it is usually pointed out that orders cannot be canceled and the website operator is not liable for non-delivery.
Some SMM panels never work and are only used to deceive customers. Their operators can usually not be found because the websites do not contain an imprint and are hosted by anonymous servers. The existence of these websites is usually a few months.
Individual evidence
- ↑ SMM panel from India. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ -: Example price for YouTube views. FanHub GMBH, November 2, 2019, accessed on November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Michael H. Keller: The Flourishing Business of Fake YouTube Views . In: The New York Times . August 11, 2018, ISSN 0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed November 1, 2019]).