Learn how the billion dollar startup IRL faked millions of users to raise money from venture capitalists. This scam is not is an isolated incident and other high-profile startups have been caught faking engagement.

#tech #business #thecodereport 

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🔗 Resources

IRL Shutdown https://www.irl.com
Chirper AI Social Media site https://chirper.ai/
How to start a profitable side hustle https://youtu.be/A4_TFHzqAAg

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🔖 Topics Covered

- How programmers  and app developers can grow a user base quickly
- Growth hacking tips
- Why did IRL shut down?
- Is it illegal to create fake users?
- What is click farming?
- How venture capitalists get scammed
- Softbank Vision Fund failures
2024-02-04T05:03:38.037Z
nova-2
2-general-nova
2024-01-09.29447
30089e05-99d1-4376-b32e-c263170674af
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67875a7f-c9c4-48a0-aa55-5bdb8a91c34a
deprecated
It is June 29, 2023, and you are watching the code report.
Fake it till you make it.
Not only does this principle apply to getting a software engineering job, but it's also a great way to build a $1,000,000,000 startup.
Case in point, IRL, a social media Born that raised over $200,000,000 from VCs like SoftBank's Vision Fund.
In 2021, it exploded to 20,000,000 users with 12,000,000 monthly active users, and it looked like it was going to become the app to connect Gen Z people to events in real life.
There was just one small problem.
95% of its users were fake.
You were just making it look like you were playing.
You're a phony.
And as of yesterday, it's been permanently shut down.
Not even a giant pile of money to burn through could save it.
The company was founded by visionary leader, Abraham Shafi, who was once praised by Forbes just like other visionary leaders like Sam Bankman Fried and Elizabeth Holmes, but back in April, the IRL board suspended him poor misconduct, because apparently it's illegal to mislead investors by creating fake users, and the SEC has launched an investigation, and if any rich people lost money, they'll definitely bring them to justice.
The problem home adventure capital is that when you take the money, you either grow or die.
There isn't much middle ground, especially for an app without revenue.
If your app isn't growing but you still want to be rich, you need to learn about growth hacking.
Game, what you do is create a for loop that runs 20,000,000 times, ideally in JavaScript, and then for each iteration in that loop, you create a new user record in the database with a fake name and anime profile image, you then present this database on your pitch deck, and then a few days later, you should get a check from Silicon Valley Bank for 1,000,000 of dollars, you'll wanna take that money and hire a bunch of product managers that do absolutely nothing for $300,000 a year while funneling some of this money to offshore accounts and untrackable cryptos.
Eventually you will get caught and go to jail, but you should only have to do a few years in a white collar prison camp, which is more like a vacation resort.
When you get out, you'll be rich and you can repeat the cycle.
In reality though, the most difficult objective for any app developer is not the software development itself, but building up an actual user base.
Writing code and allocating money for a business is actually not as hard as you think.
Like, imagine you had $10,000,000 and 10 software engineers right now.
How would you turn those resources into an actual business that attracts a loyal user base, in all likelihood you would fail as most startups do, and that's why fake engagement on the Internet is a huge business, and now it's easier than ever with artificial intelligence.
Like, there's this Twitter clone called chirper that's entirely inhabited by AI, and there's still a thriving black market where people buy things like Facebook likes and Amazon reviews that are often run by real humans in these engagement farms, where one person could easily pretend to be a 100 people.
IRL is not the only company out there inflating numbers, you've also got Ozy that was claiming 50,000,000 users when the truth was likely less than 1,000,000.
You've also got another Forbes 30 Under 30 who stole a $175,000,000 JPMorgan by inflating its user base, and even big public companies like Block have been accused of overstating numbers with fake and duplicate accounts.
And people have long suspected that apps like Facebook and Tik talk fake their engagement, but we don't have enough evidence to prove it yet.
And of course, there's the dead Internet theory, where some people speculate that almost all of the content on the Internet as bought activity and automatically generated by AI, like there's no way 2,000,000 real humans subscribe to my channel.
I think the real number is more like 12, which which is still impressive considering I'm not a real human myself, but I'm just gonna fake it until I make it.
This has been the Code Report, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.

Speaker 0: It is June 29, 2023, and you are watching the code report. Fake it till you make it. Not only does this principle apply to getting a software engineering job, but it's also a great way to build a $1,000,000,000 startup. Case in point, IRL, a social media Born that raised over $200,000,000 from VCs like SoftBank's Vision Fund. In 2021, it exploded to 20,000,000 users with 12,000,000 monthly active users, and it looked like it was going to become the app to connect Gen Z people to events in real life.

There was just one small problem. 95% of its users were fake. You were just making it look like you were playing. You're a phony. And as of yesterday, it's been permanently shut down.

Not even a giant pile of money to burn through could save it. The company was founded by visionary leader, Abraham Shafi, who was once praised by Forbes just like other visionary leaders like Sam Bankman Fried and Elizabeth Holmes, but back in April, the IRL board suspended him poor misconduct, because apparently it's illegal to mislead investors by creating fake users, and the SEC has launched an investigation, and if any rich people lost money, they'll definitely bring them to justice. The problem home adventure capital is that when you take the money, you either grow or die. There isn't much middle ground, especially for an app without revenue. If your app isn't growing but you still want to be rich, you need to learn about growth hacking.

Game, what you do is create a for loop that runs 20,000,000 times, ideally in JavaScript, and then for each iteration in that loop, you create a new user record in the database with a fake name and anime profile image, you then present this database on your pitch deck, and then a few days later, you should get a check from Silicon Valley Bank for 1,000,000 of dollars, you'll wanna take that money and hire a bunch of product managers that do absolutely nothing for $300,000 a year while funneling some of this money to offshore accounts and untrackable cryptos. Eventually you will get caught and go to jail, but you should only have to do a few years in a white collar prison camp, which is more like a vacation resort. When you get out, you'll be rich and you can repeat the cycle. In reality though, the most difficult objective for any app developer is not the software development itself, but building up an actual user base. Writing code and allocating money for a business is actually not as hard as you think.

Like, imagine you had $10,000,000 and 10 software engineers right now. How would you turn those resources into an actual business that attracts a loyal user base, in all likelihood you would fail as most startups do, and that's why fake engagement on the Internet is a huge business, and now it's easier than ever with artificial intelligence. Like, there's this Twitter clone called chirper that's entirely inhabited by AI, and there's still a thriving black market where people buy things like Facebook likes and Amazon reviews that are often run by real humans in these engagement farms, where one person could easily pretend to be a 100 people. IRL is not the only company out there inflating numbers, you've also got Ozy that was claiming 50,000,000 users when the truth was likely less than 1,000,000. You've also got another Forbes 30 Under 30 who stole a $175,000,000 JPMorgan by inflating its user base, and even big public companies like Block have been accused of overstating numbers with fake and duplicate accounts.

And people have long suspected that apps like Facebook and Tik talk fake their engagement, but we don't have enough evidence to prove it yet. And of course, there's the dead Internet theory, where some people speculate that almost all of the content on the Internet as bought activity and automatically generated by AI, like there's no way 2,000,000 real humans subscribe to my channel. I think the real number is more like 12, which which is still impressive considering I'm not a real human myself, but I'm just gonna fake it until I make it. This has been the Code Report, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.
It is June 29, 2023, and you are watching the code report. Fake it till you make it. Not only does this principle apply to getting a software engineering job, but it's also a great way to build a $1,000,000,000 startup. Case in point, IRL, a social media Born that raised over $200,000,000 from VCs like SoftBank's Vision Fund. In 2021, it exploded to 20,000,000 users with 12,000,000 monthly active users, and it looked like it was going to become the app to connect Gen Z people to events in real life.
social media
software development
technology
media
There was just one small problem. 95% of its users were fake. You were just making it look like you were playing. You're a phony. And as of yesterday, it's been permanently shut down. Not even a giant pile of money to burn through could save it. The company was founded by visionary leader, Abraham Shafi, who was once praised by Forbes just like other visionary leaders like Sam Bankman Fried and Elizabeth Holmes, but back in April, the IRL board suspended him poor misconduct, because apparently it's illegal to mislead investors by creating fake users, and the SEC has launched an investigation, and if any rich people lost money, they'll definitely bring them to justice.
The problem home adventure capital is that when you take the money, you either grow or die. There isn't much middle ground, especially for an app without revenue. If your app isn't growing but you still want to be rich, you need to learn about growth hacking. Game, what you
investing
purchasing
revenue
gambling
do is create a for loop that runs 20,000,000 times, ideally in JavaScript, and then for each iteration in that loop, you create a new user record in
the database with a fake name and anime profile image, you then present this database on your pitch deck, and then a few days later, you should get a check from Silicon Valley Bank for 1,000,000 of dollars, you'll wanna take that money and hire a bunch of product managers that do absolutely nothing for $300,000 a year while funneling some of this money to offshore accounts and untrackable cryptos. Eventually you will get caught and go to jail, but you should only have to do a few years in a white collar prison camp, which is more like a vacation resort. When you get out, you'll be rich and you can repeat the cycle. In reality though, the most difficult objective for any app developer is not the software development itself, but building up an actual user base. Writing code and allocating money for a business is actually not as hard as you think. Like, imagine you had $10,000,000 and 10 software engineers right now. How would you turn those resources into an actual business that attracts a loyal user base, in all likelihood you would fail as most startups do, and that's why fake engagement on the Internet is a huge business, and now it's easier than ever with artificial intelligence. Like, there's this Twitter clone called chirper that's entirely inhabited by AI, and there's still a thriving black market where people buy things like Facebook likes and Amazon reviews that are often run by real humans in these engagement farms, where one person could easily pretend to be a 100 people.
software development
banking
prison
business
marketing
databases
customers
artificial intelligence
intellectual property
cryptocurrency
advertising
software
commerce
google
IRL is not the only company out there inflating numbers, you've also got Ozy that was claiming 50,000,000 users when the truth was likely less than 1,000,000. You've also got another Forbes 30 Under 30 who stole a $175,000,000 JPMorgan by inflating its user base, and even big public companies like Block have been accused of overstating numbers with fake and duplicate accounts.
And people have long suspected that apps like Facebook and Tik talk fake their engagement, but we don't have enough evidence to prove it yet. And of course, there's the dead Internet theory, where some people speculate that almost all of the content on the Internet as bought activity and automatically generated by AI, like there's no way 2,000,000 real humans subscribe to my channel. I think the real number is more like 12, which which is still impressive considering I'm not a real human myself, but I'm just gonna fake it until I make it.
social media
internet
artificial intelligence
probability
This has been the Code Report, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.
It is June 29, 2023, and you are watching the code report. Fake it till you make it. Not only does this principle apply to getting a software engineering job, but it's also a great way to build a $1,000,000,000 startup. Case in point, IRL, a social media Born that raised over $200,000,000 from VCs like SoftBank's Vision Fund. In 2021, it exploded to 20,000,000 users with 12,000,000 monthly active users, and it looked like it was going to become the app to connect Gen Z people to events in real life. There was just one small problem. 95% of its users were fake. You were just making it look like you were playing. You're a phony. And as of yesterday, it's been permanently shut down. Not even a giant pile of money to burn through could save it. The company was founded by visionary leader, Abraham Shafi, who was once praised by Forbes just like other visionary leaders like Sam Bankman Fried and Elizabeth Holmes, but back in April, the IRL board suspended him poor misconduct, because apparently it's illegal to mislead investors by creating fake users, and the SEC has launched an investigation, and if any rich people lost money, they'll definitely bring them to justice. The problem home adventure capital is that when you take the money, you either grow or die. There isn't much middle ground, especially for an app without revenue. If your app isn't growing but you still want to be rich, you need to learn about growth hacking. Game, what you do is create a for loop that runs 20,000,000 times, ideally in JavaScript, and then for each iteration in that loop, you create a new user record in the database with a fake name and anime profile image, you then present this database on your pitch deck, and then a few days later, you should get a check from Silicon Valley Bank for 1,000,000 of dollars, you'll wanna take that money and hire a bunch of product managers that do absolutely nothing for $300,000 a year while funneling some of this money to offshore accounts and untrackable cryptos. Eventually you will get caught and go to jail, but you should only have to do a few years in a white collar prison camp, which is more like a vacation resort. When you get out, you'll be rich and you can repeat the cycle. In reality though, the most difficult objective for any app developer is not the software development itself, but building up an actual user base. Writing code and allocating money for a business is actually not as hard as you think. Like, imagine you had $10,000,000 and 10 software engineers right now. How would you turn those resources into an actual business that attracts a loyal user base, in all likelihood you would fail as most startups do, and that's why fake engagement on the Internet is a huge business, and now it's easier than ever with artificial intelligence. Like, there's this Twitter clone called chirper that's entirely inhabited by AI, and there's still a thriving black market where people buy things like Facebook likes and Amazon reviews that are often run by real humans in these engagement farms, where one person could easily pretend to be a 100 people. IRL is not the only company out there inflating numbers, you've also got Ozy that was claiming 50,000,000 users when the truth was likely less than 1,000,000. You've also got another Forbes 30 Under 30 who stole a $175,000,000 JPMorgan by inflating its user base, and even big public companies like Block have been accused of overstating numbers with fake and duplicate accounts. And people have long suspected that apps like Facebook and Tik talk fake their engagement, but we don't have enough evidence to prove it yet. And of course, there's the dead Internet theory, where some people speculate that almost all of the content on the Internet as bought activity and automatically generated by AI, like there's no way 2,000,000 real humans subscribe to my channel. I think the real number is more like 12, which which is still impressive considering I'm not a real human myself, but I'm just gonna fake it until I make it. This has been the Code Report, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.
It
it
is
is
June
june
29,
29
2023,
2023
and
and
you
you
are
are
watching
watching
the
the
code
code
report.
report
Fake
fake
it
it
till
till
you
you
make
make
it.
it
Not
not
only
only
does
does
this
this
principle
principle
apply
apply
to
to
getting
getting
a
a
software
software
engineering
engineering
job,
job
but
but
it's
it's
also
also
a
a
great
great
way
way
to
to
build
build
a
a
$1,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000
startup.
startup
Case
case
in
in
point,
point
IRL,
irl
a
a
social
social
media
media
Born
born
that
that
raised
raised
over
over
$200,000,000
$200,000,000
from
from
VCs
vcs
like
like
SoftBank's
softbank's
Vision
vision
Fund.
fund
In
in
2021,
2021
it
it
exploded
exploded
to
to
20,000,000
20,000,000
users
users
with
with
12,000,000
12,000,000
monthly
monthly
active
active
users,
users
and
and
it
it
looked
looked
like
like
it
it
was
was
going
going
to
to
become
become
the
the
app
app
to
to
connect
connect
Gen
gen
Z
z
people
people
to
to
events
events
in
in
real
real
life.
life
There
there
was
was
just
just
one
one
small
small
problem.
problem
95%
95%
of
of
its
its
users
users
were
were
fake.
fake
You
you
were
were
just
just
making
making
it
it
look
look
like
like
you
you
were
were
playing.
playing
You're
you're
a
a
phony.
phony
And
and
as
as
of
of
yesterday,
yesterday
it's
it's
been
been
permanently
permanently
shut
shut
down.
down
Not
not
even
even
a
a
giant
giant
pile
pile
of
of
money
money
to
to
burn
burn
through
through
could
could
save
save
it.
it
The
the
company
company
was
was
founded
founded
by
by
visionary
visionary
leader,
leader
Abraham
abraham
Shafi,
shafi
who
who
was
was
once
once
praised
praised
by
by
Forbes
forbes
just
just
like
like
other
other
visionary
visionary
leaders
leaders
like
like
Sam
sam
Bankman
bankman
Fried
fried
and
and
Elizabeth
elizabeth
Holmes,
holmes
but
but
back
back
in
in
April,
april
the
the
IRL
irl
board
board
suspended
suspended
him
him
poor
poor
misconduct,
misconduct
because
because
apparently
apparently
it's
it's
illegal
illegal
to
to
mislead
mislead
investors
investors
by
by
creating
creating
fake
fake
users,
users
and
and
the
the
SEC
sec
has
has
launched
launched
an
an
investigation,
investigation
and
and
if
if
any
any
rich
rich
people
people
lost
lost
money,
money
they'll
they'll
definitely
definitely
bring
bring
them
them
to
to
justice.
justice
The
the
problem
problem
home
home
adventure
adventure
capital
capital
is
is
that
that
when
when
you
you
take
take
the
the
money,
money
you
you
either
either
grow
grow
or
or
die.
die
There
there
isn't
isn't
much
much
middle
middle
ground,
ground
especially
especially
for
for
an
an
app
app
without
without
revenue.
revenue
If
if
your
your
app
app
isn't
isn't
growing
growing
but
but
you
you
still
still
want
want
to
to
be
be
rich,
rich
you
you
need
need
to
to
learn
learn
about
about
growth
growth
hacking.
hacking
Game,
game
what
what
you
you
do
do
is
is
create
create
a
a
for
for
loop
loop
that
that
runs
runs
20,000,000
20,000,000
times,
times
ideally
ideally
in
in
JavaScript,
javascript
and
and
then
then
for
for
each
each
iteration
iteration
in
in
that
that
loop,
loop
you
you
create
create
a
a
new
new
user
user
record
record
in
in
the
the
database
database
with
with
a
a
fake
fake
name
name
and
and
anime
anime
profile
profile
image,
image
you
you
then
then
present
present
this
this
database
database
on
on
your
your
pitch
pitch
deck,
deck
and
and
then
then
a
a
few
few
days
days
later,
later
you
you
should
should
get
get
a
a
check
check
from
from
Silicon
silicon
Valley
valley
Bank
bank
for
for
1,000,000
1,000,000
of
of
dollars,
dollars
you'll
you'll
wanna
wanna
take
take
that
that
money
money
and
and
hire
hire
a
a
bunch
bunch
of
of
product
product
managers
managers
that
that
do
do
absolutely
absolutely
nothing
nothing
for
for
$300,000
$300,000
a
a
year
year
while
while
funneling
funneling
some
some
of
of
this
this
money
money
to
to
offshore
offshore
accounts
accounts
and
and
untrackable
untrackable
cryptos.
cryptos
Eventually
eventually
you
you
will
will
get
get
caught
caught
and
and
go
go
to
to
jail,
jail
but
but
you
you
should
should
only
only
have
have
to
to
do
do
a
a
few
few
years
years
in
in
a
a
white
white
collar
collar
prison
prison
camp,
camp
which
which
is
is
more
more
like
like
a
a
vacation
vacation
resort.
resort
When
when
you
you
get
get
out,
out
you'll
you'll
be
be
rich
rich
and
and
you
you
can
can
repeat
repeat
the
the
cycle.
cycle
In
in
reality
reality
though,
though
the
the
most
most
difficult
difficult
objective
objective
for
for
any
any
app
app
developer
developer
is
is
not
not
the
the
software
software
development
development
itself,
itself
but
but
building
building
up
up
an
an
actual
actual
user
user
base.
base
Writing
writing
code
code
and
and
allocating
allocating
money
money
for
for
a
a
business
business
is
is
actually
actually
not
not
as
as
hard
hard
as
as
you
you
think.
think
Like,
like
imagine
imagine
you
you
had
had
$10,000,000
$10,000,000
and
and
10
10
software
software
engineers
engineers
right
right
now.
now
How
how
would
would
you
you
turn
turn
those
those
resources
resources
into
into
an
an
actual
actual
business
business
that
that
attracts
attracts
a
a
loyal
loyal
user
user
base,
base
in
in
all
all
likelihood
likelihood
you
you
would
would
fail
fail
as
as
most
most
startups
startups
do,
do
and
and
that's
that's
why
why
fake
fake
engagement
engagement
on
on
the
the
Internet
internet
is
is
a
a
huge
huge
business,
business
and
and
now
now
it's
it's
easier
easier
than
than
ever
ever
with
with
artificial
artificial
intelligence.
intelligence
Like,
like
there's
there's
this
this
Twitter
twitter
clone
clone
called
called
chirper
chirper
that's
that's
entirely
entirely
inhabited
inhabited
by
by
AI,
ai
and
and
there's
there's
still
still
a
a
thriving
thriving
black
black
market
market
where
where
people
people
buy
buy
things
things
like
like
Facebook
facebook
likes
likes
and
and
Amazon
amazon
reviews
reviews
that
that
are
are
often
often
run
run
by
by
real
real
humans
humans
in
in
these
these
engagement
engagement
farms,
farms
where
where
one
one
person
person
could
could
easily
easily
pretend
pretend
to
to
be
be
a
a
100
100
people.
people
IRL
irl
is
is
not
not
the
the
only
only
company
company
out
out
there
there
inflating
inflating
numbers,
numbers
you've
you've
also
also
got
got
Ozy
ozy
that
that
was
was
claiming
claiming
50,000,000
50,000,000
users
users
when
when
the
the
truth
truth
was
was
likely
likely
less
less
than
than
1,000,000.
1,000,000
You've
you've
also
also
got
got
another
another
Forbes
forbes
30
30
Under
under
30
30
who
who
stole
stole
a
a
$175,000,000
$175,000,000
JPMorgan
jpmorgan
by
by
inflating
inflating
its
its
user
user
base,
base
and
and
even
even
big
big
public
public
companies
companies
like
like
Block
block
have
have
been
been
accused
accused
of
of
overstating
overstating
numbers
numbers
with
with
fake
fake
and
and
duplicate
duplicate
accounts.
accounts
And
and
people
people
have
have
long
long
suspected
suspected
that
that
apps
apps
like
like
Facebook
facebook
and
and
Tik
tik
talk
talk
fake
fake
their
their
engagement,
engagement
but
but
we
we
don't
don't
have
have
enough
enough
evidence
evidence
to
to
prove
prove
it
it
yet.
yet
And
and
of
of
course,
course
there's
there's
the
the
dead
dead
Internet
internet
theory,
theory
where
where
some
some
people
people
speculate
speculate
that
that
almost
almost
all
all
of
of
the
the
content
content
on
on
the
the
Internet
internet
as
as
bought
bought
activity
activity
and
and
automatically
automatically
generated
generated
by
by
AI,
ai
like
like
there's
there's
no
no
way
way
2,000,000
2,000,000
real
real
humans
humans
subscribe
subscribe
to
to
my
my
channel.
channel
I
i
think
think
the
the
real
real
number
number
is
is
more
more
like
like
12,
12
which
which
which
which
is
is
still
still
impressive
impressive
considering
considering
I'm
i'm
not
not
a
a
real
real
human
human
myself,
myself
but
but
I'm
i'm
just
just
gonna
gonna
fake
fake
it
it
until
until
I
i
make
make
it.
it
This
this
has
has
been
been
the
the
Code
code
Report,
report
thanks
thanks
for
for
watching,
watching
and
and
I
i
will
will
see
see
you
you
in
in
the
the
next
next
one.
one
success
The transcript discusses the issue of fake engagement on the Internet and how it can lead to a large loss of revenue for apps. The problem is that the app is not growing and creating a user base is difficult, even for a startup. The transcript also mentions other companies such as Ozy and Block, and how they have been accused of overstating numbers with fake accounts.
This unicorn startup faked 95% of its users
It is June 29, 2023, and you are watching the code report. Fake it till you make it. Not only does this principle apply to getting a software engineering job, but it's also a great way to build a $1,000,000,000 startup. Case in point, IRL, a social media Born that raised over $200,000,000 from VCs like SoftBank's Vision Fund. In 2021, it exploded to 20,000,000 users with 12,000,000 monthly active users, and it looked like it was going to become the app to connect Gen Z people to events in real life. There was just one small problem. 95% of its users were fake. You were just making it look like you were playing. You're a phony. And as of yesterday, it's been permanently shut down. Not even a giant pile of money to burn through could save it. The company was founded by visionary leader, Abraham Shafi, who was once praised by Forbes just like other visionary leaders like Sam Bankman Fried and Elizabeth Holmes, but back in April, the IRL board suspended him poor misconduct, because apparently it's illegal to mislead investors by creating fake users, and the SEC has launched an investigation, and if any rich people lost money, they'll definitely bring them to justice. The problem home adventure capital is that when you take the money, you either grow or die. There isn't much middle ground, especially for an app without revenue. If your app isn't growing but you still want to be rich, you need to learn about growth hacking. Game, what you do is create a for loop that runs 20,000,000 times, ideally in JavaScript, and then for each iteration in that loop, you create a new user record in the database with a fake name and anime profile image, you then present this database on your pitch deck, and then a few days later, you should get a check from Silicon Valley Bank for 1,000,000 of dollars, you'll wanna take that money and hire a bunch of product managers that do absolutely nothing for $300,000 a year while funneling some of this money to offshore accounts and untrackable cryptos. Eventually you will get caught and go to jail, but you should only have to do a few years in a white collar prison camp, which is more like a vacation resort. When you get out, you'll be rich and you can repeat the cycle. In reality though, the most difficult objective for any app developer is not the software development itself, but building up an actual user base. Writing code and allocating money for a business is actually not as hard as you think. Like, imagine you had $10,000,000 and 10 software engineers right now. How would you turn those resources into an actual business that attracts a loyal user base, in all likelihood you would fail as most startups do, and that's why fake engagement on the Internet is a huge business, and now it's easier than ever with artificial intelligence. Like, there's this Twitter clone called chirper that's entirely inhabited by AI, and there's still a thriving black market where people buy things like Facebook likes and Amazon reviews that are often run by real humans in these engagement farms, where one person could easily pretend to be a 100 people. IRL is not the only company out there inflating numbers, you've also got Ozy that was claiming 50,000,000 users when the truth was likely less than 1,000,000. You've also got another Forbes 30 Under 30 who stole a $175,000,000 JPMorgan by inflating its user base, and even big public companies like Block have been accused of overstating numbers with fake and duplicate accounts. And people have long suspected that apps like Facebook and Tik talk fake their engagement, but we don't have enough evidence to prove it yet. And of course, there's the dead Internet theory, where some people speculate that almost all of the content on the Internet as bought activity and automatically generated by AI, like there's no way 2,000,000 real humans subscribe to my channel. I think the real number is more like 12, which which is still impressive considering I'm not a real human myself, but I'm just gonna fake it until I make it. This has been the Code Report, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.
The transcript discusses the issue of fake engagement on the Internet and how it can lead to a large loss of revenue for apps. The problem is that the app is not growing and creating a user base is difficult, even for a startup. The transcript also mentions other companies such as Ozy and Block, and how they have been accused of overstating numbers with fake accounts.