According to Australian-based company uSocial.net, there is substantial evidence that many huge-name celebrities and organizations may have increased their follower numbers by artificial means.

"Using only publicly-available information and our own knowledge of how Twitter works, there's no doubt that many of the biggest names on Twitter are artificially-increasing their followers." Said uSocial's CEO Leon Hill.

Some of the named include Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Barack Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Justin Bieber, Martha Stewart, The British PM's Twitter page (10 Downing Street), JetBlue Airways and many more.

In total, uSocial say that of the top 100 users on Twitter with the largest following numbers, it's extremely likely that 15 of those have artificially-inflated follower numbers, with the possibility of 10 more unconfirmed.

uSocial.net and it's CEO are considered experts in the field of Twitter marketing as being the first company in the world to sell advertising on the micro-blogging site.