Samsung Sockpuppeting / Astroturfing on HTC in Taiwan

scotty on 16/04/2013 - 22:13

Saw this news on The Verge — Samsung under investigation for false advertising about HTC in Taiwan

The company reportedly hired students to write negative remarks online about HTC and to post promotional content for itself… Samsung said that its Taiwanese branch "has ceased all marketing activities that involve the posting of anonymous comments." It believes that the incident was an error due to insufficient training, and that it is not consistent with Samsung's policies.

In the comments there are some with more detailed reports. For example from someone claimed to be from Taiwan:

Apparently what happen is that Samsung hire people who are not HTC users. They will pretend they bought a HTC and post fake articles about how bad the HTC is (bug, poor build quality…. Etc) on multiple big forums. And they will use avatar accounts to support the articles. Leave the comments like, “I got the same problem” “my friend had same problem”. All lead to the conclusion that people should never buy HTC.

People should know how much we dislike sockpuppeting here at OzBargain, and the behaviour of Samsung Taiwan (or "marketing activities" claimed by them) is just disgusting. Not claiming Samsung Australia is doing the same — the media / advertising regulation would have been more strict here I guess — but it does leave a bad taste in your mouth for someone who have bought Samsung phones (me included).

Mobile

Comments

  • bob_wangkar on 16/04/2013 - 22:19
    -2

    Not hard to believe knowing what TWnese people and other Asian couterparts would do for rewards/benefits/shares and MONEY.

    • scotty on 16/04/2013 - 22:24

      Indeed this kind of sockpuppeting seems to be commonly practised in some countries there. Doesn't make it right, but might be more tolerated until a big case like this.

  • pfpozbargain on 17/04/2013 - 01:52

    Last two phones I've had, HTC and Samsung, the Samsung has proven to be horribly inferior in build quality to the HTC, come at me Samsung Taiwan!

    • bob_wangkar on 17/04/2013 - 02:26

      That's the general consensus anyways. Only if HTC figures that its customers want removable batteries and card slots etc etc. I'll never get a perfect phone from HTC, yet my S2 has served me well.

      • Commonwealth Pig on 18/04/2013 - 19:42

        Have you had a look at the One SV? Cheap outright, removable battery, 4G and SD card slot. I'm kicking myself I didn't buy one. I was drawn in by the waterproofing of the Xperia Z.

        • bob_wangkar on 18/04/2013 - 22:03

          Its never present on its flagship since the Desire. Had a Desire HD, though its long being passed on.

  • kenbro on 17/04/2013 - 20:27

    Same thing can be said about HTC.
    They put out rumours about samsung, something about the build quality.

    Guess it's a game of cat and mouse!

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