INSIDE GITHUB'S FAKE STAR ECONOMY

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

A study found 6 million fake stars across 18,617 repositories. AI/LLM repositories were the largest non-malicious category. There are at least a dozen websites selling stars for between $0.03 to $0.85 each. The FTC introduced a rule in 2024 banning fake social influence metrics with a penalty of $53,088 per violation. The SEC has already charged startup founders for inflating traction metrics during fundraising.