Makeup artists Kamila Wysocka and Alexis Jackson from Florida point at another costumed person as they eat dinner in their zombie makeup at ComicCon in New York, October 10, 2013.
Launched in 2006, New York Comic Con has grown to attract an annual crowd of over a hundred thousand fans of comics, video games and movies. And as if that hype wasn’t enough, organizers decided this year to use attendees’ Twitter accounts to send out promo messages without their knowledge.
Shortly after doors opened to the convention on Thursday, hundreds of pre-written tweets were sent out from the handles of unassuming visitors.
Brian Crecente, co-founder and news editor at Polygon, wrote to TIME explaining how he noticed his account had gone renegade after queries from followers. After a brief browse, he found more than 500 similar tweets from other fans, press and professionals.
“It appears that when attendees went online to pre-activate the RFID chip in their convention badge, they were given the option to link their badge with their Twitter account,” Crecente writes, adding of his own registration process: “I assumed it was something that would allow me to more easily tweet on my own.”
https://twitter.com/crecenteb/status/388405166158147584
Polygon has contacted New York Comic Con and Twitter officials for a comment, but has yet to receive a response.