ROME -- Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, as well as the Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano, are only two examples amongst many who have reportedly been found to create thousands of fake twitter followers to advance their own popularity and support.

 According to Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, many important politicians and journalists have been found to be boosting their following figures on social media sites such as twitter so as to appear to have a wider fan base. Although Il Fatto Quotidiano did not specifiy how politicians such as Renzi have been accumulating more followers, it is often the way that they pay a small fee for a large number of extra 'likes'. One might expect Hollywood celebrities to engage in such self-promoting online activity, but would perhaps look for a higher level of truthfulness from the country’s political leaders. 

 Il Fatto Quotidiano states names Renzi as one of the main culprits of the twitter trend, who has been found to have 59 percent ‘real’ followers, out of his 2.5 million total followers, and a considerable one million ‘fake’ followers. Others found out include the Minister for Constitutional Reforms Maria Elena Boschi, who has 69 per cent ‘real’ followers and therefore 78 thousand ‘fake’, Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies Luigi Di Maio, with 87 thousand ‘real’ and 48 thousand ‘fake’, as well as Beppe Grillo, leader of the Five Star Movement (M5S), with 1.1 million ‘real’ and 938 thousand ‘fake’.

 One of the worst offenders, however, is reportedly Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano, whose ‘fake’ followers actually top his ‘real’ ones, with an estimated 228 thousand ‘fake’ followers compared to only 180 thousand ‘real’ ones. President of the Chamber of Deputies Laura Boldrini’s figures are even worse, with a reported 181 thousand ‘real’ followers and 321 thousand ‘fake’ ones.

 However, it is not only Italy’s politicians who have found to be tweaking their twitter pages, but also several of the country’s prominent journalists. Beppe Severgnini reportedly has only 53 percent ‘real’ followers, as well as Concita De Gregorio who has an estimated 177 thousand ‘fake’ followers and only 150 thousand ‘real’ ones.

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