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People are having their Twitter accounts suspended and losing verification badges.
Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that NFTs have been attracting a huge amount of mainstream attention in recent months. With celebrities like Justin Bieber spending millions of dollars on the controversial digital assets, it’s no surprise that they continue to make headlines.
To the anguish of many supporters, more and more Fortnite players have been accepting money to promote NFT projects on their social media accounts. This generally comes in the form of a Twitter giveaway, asking followers to share and engage with the post for a chance to win.
For the promoters it’s easy money. They can make thousands of dollars a day, simply for sending a few tweets. So, why all the hate? Most Fortnite personalities have predominantly younger fanbases, meaning they are exposing impressionable minds to these risky investment opportunities, often without disclosing that it is a paid advertisement.
Downfall of NFT promoters...?? pic.twitter.com/AXM3m7GBjl
— Overtime Gaming (@OvertimeGG) February 2, 2022
On Wednesday, Twitter took action against a number of the accounts offering these services. Among others, former FNCS Champion UnknownxArmy1x was suspended altogether, while popular streamer TSM Ops and YouTuber Plalism each had their verification checkmarks removed.
This may serve as a warning to others and help reduce the sheer volume of these posts in the community right now, but with the amount of money promoters can make, it’s unlikely to make that much of a difference.
Careful with NFT or in fact promotion unless you know what you’re doing or you are getting assistance. Career ending moves for a few thousand bucks undisclosed ain’t worth it.
— BL Reno (@renomahm) September 29, 2021
In January, Drama Alert host Keemstar came under fire for making qualifiers to the upcoming Friday Fortnite tournament exclusive to certain NFT holders.
However, there are better ways to do this:
Players should treat NFT promos like any other partnership. They should fully research everything, and only work with projects they genuinely believe in. Any posts or shoutouts need to clearly indicate that it is a paid sponsorship, and making them less frequent would help to keep followers who are not interested happy.
