If you are a big cinema fan and constantly check IMDb (Internet Movie Database), the world’s most popular source for films, television, and celebrity content, then this is for you. So, you click on the website, look for Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s upcoming film, Animal in the search box, reach its page, and check the star cast of the movie. You will find Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, and Rashmika Mandanna’s names there. Like this:
However, this wasn’t the case earlier. It featured an unknown name which has turned out to be fake. A Twitter thread has exposed the person and delved into how IMDb is being vandalised by fake profiles these days.
Instead of Rashmika, there was some random guy, Subhankar Bagchi from West Bengal whose name has now vanished from the star cast on the page. The thread posted by @prstb has screenshots of Bagchi’s name being added on Animal‘s IMDb page. Check it out here:
1. “Young Indian men from small towns are gaming the system to manufacture their fake online clout”
I was on the IMDb page for an upcoming Ranbir Kapoor movie Animal. In the cast details, I found a name I didn’t recognize.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
Finding out about this guy led me to the world of how young Indian men from small towns are gaming the system to manufacture their fake online clout 👇 pic.twitter.com/zrg2rvHXLJ
2. “This is what his bio and filmography look like”
So who is this guy? I had not heard of him before and he is named in the “Top cast” category for this movie, alongside Ranbir Kapoor.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
I checked his IMDb page and this is what his bio and filmography look like. pic.twitter.com/zfHxjl0tqA
3. “These edits are not getting reviewed effectively”
According to this, he has acting credits in some big-budget productions. I am beginning to suspect that this could be a case of IMDb vandalism. IMDb allows anyone to add and edit pages and evidently, these edits are not getting reviewed effectively.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
I googled this guy.
4. “According to his Google search results, he is actually a legit musician”
Wow, so Google has a knowledge panel on him (on the right). There are also links to his music on various music platforms. Okay, so probably he is pretending to be an actor on IMDb but according to his google search results, he is actually a legit musician? pic.twitter.com/HyYiibVGFF
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
5. He has “biographies written about him on a few websites of doubtful credibility”
Skimming through the search results, I found biographies written about him on a few websites of doubtful credibility. Like this one on a website called https://t.co/clHCBLsxQR pic.twitter.com/AzkQ6b0dte
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
6. “He doesn’t have a lot of followers or any music content” online
I looked at his Youtube and other social media. He doesn’t have a lot of followers or any music content on there. I shazamed his songs and they’re copies of existing random music mashed together with an audio editing tool like Audacity. Possibly to avoid getting copyright notices
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
7. The guy has been tricking “Google into believing that he is a person of eminence”
So he set up a profile on a bunch of music streaming platforms. Uploaded mashups of existing songs. Published biographies on sites that do not verify submissions. Set up an IMDb page with fake credits.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
Why do all this? To trick google into believing he is a person of eminence.
8. Here’s how knowledge panel works when you Google a famous personality
You must’ve seen Google knowledge panels on the right or on top of the page (on mobile) when you google a famous person. The way it works is it gathers information from various online sources and uses that information to show a “knowledge panel” alongside the search results. pic.twitter.com/d1Fbca6632
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
9. However, Subhankar has “fooled” Google search algorithms
Our guy here has manufactured his stature online by feeding misinformation to the sources that Google uses to construct a knowledge panel. He has fooled the mighty google search algorithms into believing that he is a person of certain notability.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
10. Not just Subhankar’s, a lot of other fake profiles are there on IMDb with the “exact same modus operandi”
Honestly, I am impressed by his ingenuity. No disrespect to him, but I’m not convinced he thought of this whole scheme on his own. I went back to his IMDb and checked cast details of other movies he is part of. And I found a few dozen profiles with the exact same modus operandi.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
11. Star cast of KGF: Chapter 2 also featured “fake credits” on IMDb
For instance, check the cast details of the movie K.G.F: Chapter 2. The ones marked in red boxes are all fake credits that I could identify. A few more are listed in other crew of this movie like Production Management, Sound Department, Music Department, etc. They’re everywhere! pic.twitter.com/cdMVD9J9Nc
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
12. “All of their IMDb bios are written in an identical styles”
And this is from one movie. If you open the cast/crew details of any recent big Indian movie on IMDb, you will find there are imposters all around. It’s very easy to find them. All of their IMDb bios are written in an identical style.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
They all seem to have these things in common
13. “All are part of the cast of big Indian movies with a vague mention of their roles”
– All are part of the cast of big Indian movies with a vague mention of their roles
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
– All young men mostly from small northern Indian towns
– They all have biographies on the same handful of websites that read exactly the same
– THEY ALL HAVE THEIR OWN GOOGLE KNOWLEDGE PANEL
I wanted to see how deep this hustle goes.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
Most of these guys had a biography of themselves on https://t.co/clHCBLsxQR – a website that allows you to submit your own press release which is then distributed to search engines and other news platforms. pic.twitter.com/Cx5n0cWSfF
So I googled “Indian singer” and limited the search to https://t.co/clHCBLsxQR. And I found hundreds of such biographies. Almost all of them were created within the last year. I opened a few of these pages and all of their biographies are written with a similar template. pic.twitter.com/F0KuIOQzUa
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
There is also https://t.co/b0C5mkBk38, a website for filmmakers to submit their films to film festivals globally. This website has hundreds of profiles of young Indians who have nothing to do with filmmaking.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
They also have profiles on a few wikis and random Indian news websites
They’re doing this because these websites have no verification or review process for submissions but they have a high SEO ranking which tricks the google search algorithm into believing these citations as legit proof of their notability.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
I searched Youtube and found a few tutorials explaining in detail how to carry out this entire operation. For instance, check this playlist from a young Bangladeshi Youtuber explaining how to get your own Google knowledge panel from scratch in an eight-part video series. pic.twitter.com/JtBKQp8NHN
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
In a world where your online clout is everything, having their own Google KP gives them legitimacy in the eyes of their followers. Many of them have links to their KPs on their IG bios saying they’re verified by Google. A way to show their followers that they have credibility
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
I laud the effort they’ve put into the whole scheme, but in the end, a lot of them are frauds who are misleading their social media followers with information about themselves that’s just not true.
— pb (@prstb) August 7, 2022
Phew! Ye sab milke humko pagal bana rahe hain! Next time when you are checking IMDb, don’t get misled with such profiles. Anyone can edit IMDb. Certainly, these changes on the platform are not being reviewed properly. As of now, the aforementioned movie pages on IMDb have been fixed.
