He claimed that each robot was sold for Rs 7 to Rs 10, or even thousands of rupees, to promote a movie. “These bots are mostly seen on Twitter and Book My Show, where they first appear in reviews and rating lists that either praise or disparage a movie after its release,” he added.
Some movies getting a rating of 1 or 1.5 are bound to affect the mood of the audience at the premiere and this can be traced back to Uganda. “Very few African countries understand the situation of Telugu films and comment on Telugu films, and we are unable to trace many of them. In fact, few producers have dedicated Rs 2 to 5 lakh to Promote and buy their movies. These people will upload accounts on social media with positive responses like ‘awesome’ and ‘super’ and short words to promote the movie,” he noted.
On the other hand, a star or director’s so-called rivals may abuse a film to gain price. “A competitor can spend Rs 10 lakh to manage negative bots and negative reviews will trend over a period of time, generating 10,000 reactions and potentially dent the film’s collection,” he points out.
However, a truly good movie cannot be stopped by these tricks, and it will definitely win more collections, beyond reviews and ratings. He concluded: “If real reactions and ratings from viewers start uploading quickly on social media, as collections grow, negative reactions will disappear from the list and become irrelevant after a week.”