“The Cambridge Online Trust & Safety Index (COTSI) tracks the dynamics of the fake SMS-verifications market across different platforms and countries. The Index aims to answer the following questions:
- How easy (and cheap) is it to engage in online manipulation?
- Is the situation with fake accounts improving or worsening over time?
- Which online platforms are most (or least) effective at combating manipulation?
- Which countries or regions are in higher demand for online manipulation?
- By providing a comprehensive database and interactive visualisations, we enable researchers, governments and the general public to make data-driven decisions to combat misinformation and foster trust in digital environments.
- Data – We identified seventeen vendors providing fake SMS verification services and sorted them by the web traffic they receive, focusing on the top 10. From this top ten list, we selected five vendors to be included in the price index. The justifications for inclusion in the price index are as follows: data on both price and stock should be freely available via API, preferably without login or paywall; and the sms verifications should be of comparable quality to the rest of the vendors…”
- See also Science – Mapping the online manipulation economy – A market perspective on digital manipulation may help improve online trust and safety
