It has been observed that a network of fake audience sellers has been organizing fake political room discussions on the Clubhouse platform. In the following sections, we will examine some of these rooms.
First example:
A room titled “Debate with Akbar Khoshkooshk with opponents and critics of the Islamic Republic” – Room code m2QAYGk1 – Address
This room was executed under the HIGH CLUB 1 on March 3, 2023.
Upon initial investigation, it was revealed that the majority of the room’s audience became members of Clubhouse on September 28 and 29, 2020, and all of them are members of the GEM and Black House clubs.
Clubhouse does not easily provide us with user data extraction capabilities and has limitations. A total of 537 listeners and users were extracted from this room. The CSV file can be downloaded here.
Based on the obtained information, it is clear that the majority of the individuals present in the room have the same membership registration date, indicating that these users are part of a group membership. These users have been created with the aim of inflating the fake and fraudulent room audience statistics.
Other data show that most of these members are members of the GEM and Black House clubs.
Second Example:
“Hanging supporters of the regime yes, execution of opponents of the regime, no?” – Room Code: xB4Zal8Z
Managers: Sheikh Farhad Fathi, Armin Najafian, Moein Zamani
Due to Clubhouse limitations, 137 listeners from this room were extracted and analyzed.
Video of the room with a fake address Clearly, the majority of the room’s audience are fake.
Distribution of members and the first and second clubs they belong to.
Third Example:
“Urgent: Ibrahim Raisi fired the head of the Central Bank #Dollar” with the code mJzO5ApV.
Due to Clubhouse limitations, 1988 listeners from this room were examined.
Fourth Example:
“The importance of disclosing the file played by Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif” – with the code P9v1j4Ld
Due to Clubhouse restrictions, the room was reviewed by 1231 listeners. The profile of Mohammad Javad Zarif (Minister of Foreign Affairs of the eleventh government of the Islamic Republic) is fake.
Most listeners in this room are also fake, following the trend of the previously investigated rooms. They all joined Clubhouse on September 18 and 19, 2022, and are members of GEM Club, Just Gamer, and 𝐁 𝐚 𝐑 𝐨 𝐁 𝐚 𝐗.
Fifth Example:
Room: “Debate (Jalali and Beheshti) The future of popular movements in Iran” – code M6EzvEdz – address.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Sixth Example:
Room: “What are the plans for improving the situation in Iran?” – code M4GzrDOK – address.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Seventh Example:
Room: “Constitutional Lawyering vs. Principling for Prince YahyaFard and others!” – code M8K6BqRw – address.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Eighth Example:
Room: “What is the Pahlavi Prince’s plan after collecting the votes of lawyers?” – code mZrpqXKk – address.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Ninth Example:
Room: “Islamic Republic will continue with a 50-toman dollar. How far will it go?” – Code xo2VNN2K -Address
Additionally, this room includes fake listeners, with a higher volume of fake accounts extracted compared to some of the sample rooms. This is because many of these accounts had not left the room at the time of extraction.
Tenth Example:
Room: “Winter 57: Islamic Revolution or Russian-Court Coup!” – Code xew70bEG – Address
1398 listeners were extracted from this room.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Eleventh Example:
Room: “Memorial of Executed and Victims of Ukraine Airlines Flight 752” – Code MK32LgeW – Address
370 listeners were extracted from this room.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Twelfth Example:
Room: “Execution behind Execution. Is the aim of the execution sentence to scare protesters?” – Code PG4j2Y7D – Address
1760 listeners were extracted from this room.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Thirteenth Example:
Room: “Debate: Hatef Salehi and Ramezan Monjazi (ways out of problems)” – code xLAo4edV – address
A total of 1530 listeners were extracted from this room.
This room also includes fake listeners.
Other rooms run by this network will be investigated soon.
How much do these rooms cost?
To find out the cost of running these rooms, we requested a price quote from one of the sellers. They quoted 50 million Tomans (around $1100) for 2000 fake listeners, and provided a panel that can be used to distribute listeners to any launched room.
The individuals behind these fake listener clubs and room organizers are Armin Najafian and Moein Zamani.
Conclusion
the lack of a clear mechanism for dealing with these profiteers raises questions about their motivations and goals. While it remains unclear whether their objective is to control the political flow of Clubhouse clubs or to solely pursue financial gain, their activities have potentially harmful consequences for the platform and its users. To stay up-to-date on our ongoing investigation, this report will be regularly updated without prior notice.
