Defining a Sock Puppet Account
Launch library · evergreen read
A sock puppet account is a secondary identity created and controlled by someone who already has a primary account of their own, typically used to support, defend, or amplify their own opinions while appearing to be an independent voice with no connection whatsoever to the original account behind it.
The term borrows from the idea of a puppet operated from behind a hidden hand, since the account's apparent independence is the entire point of the exercise. This allows its operator to simulate agreement or support that does not actually reflect a separate person's genuine view of the matter at hand.
Sock puppet activity is often uncovered through patterns rather than single isolated posts: accounts that consistently agree with and amplify one specific voice, created around similar times, with little independent history of their own beyond that narrow, singular purpose they were originally built for, and not much else besides it.