HBO’s CEO created fake Twitter profiles to attack journalists who criticized his shows

With the Petra Collins case, the photographer who accuses Sam Levinson and HBO of stealing her work, we had already heard about more than dubious methods used by the American channel to establish its dominance in the series landscape. More recently, the magazine Rolling Stone investigated Casey Bloys, former director of original programming at HBO, revealing his uplifting practices on Twitter.

A method to “vent your frustrations”

Following this investigation, the CEO of the prestigious American chain admitted having done so orchestrated the creation of fake Twitter accounts, during the pandemic. The goal of these fictitious accounts? Silencing the critics by specialized journalists. Under the cover of anonymity, Casey Bloys instructed the latter to intervene harsh messagespublished on social networks or in the comment areas of sites that criticize it.

According to this same investigation, the program director targeted renowned media outlets such as Rolling StoneTHE New York Times OR Vulture. Regarding a journalist employed with the latter newspaper, the former CEO stated in particular “We just need an anonymous account to reply to her and make her feel bad”. The journalist had the misfortune of criticizing the writing of an episode of the remake of the series Perry Mason. As justification for his actions, Casey Bloys explained:

“I was working from home, spending too much time on Twitter and I had this really stupid idea to vent my frustrations. »

Casey Bloys apologized and said only six false tweets had been posted. He now claims to send private messages to journalists with whom he disagrees instead of using such tricks.

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