My Hero Academia to Crack Down on Global Popularity Poll’s ‘Bot’ Votes

My Hero Academia is cracking down on some votes that might have been submitted by bots as part of the Global Popularity Poll. When Kohei Horikoshi officially brought My Hero Academia to an end in the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, one of the big announcements celebrating the manga was a launch of a worldwide poll where fans would be able to vote for their favorite characters. With voting for the poll set to end later this month and crowning a winner, it seems there’s been an unexpected hiccup in the votes tallied for the poll thus far.  

In a message shared with fans on social media, Shueisha’s Editorial Department revealed that while they were previously planning to reveal the current standings for the My Hero Academia Global Popularity Poll they will be delaying those midterm results. Shueisha explained that they are now in the process of invalidating votes that they find to be in violation of the terms of service, with fraudulent or bot votes being deemed ineligible ahead of the midterm results. 

My Hero Academia Global Popularity Poll Removes Fake Votes

Shueisha’s message on the matter reads as such, “We are currently in the process of invalidating votes cast during the Main Stage that have been found in violation of the Terms of Service. The initial Main Stage midterm results announcement had been scheduled for 7pm on Sunday, Sept. 1, but this will now be delayed until Thursday, Sept. 5, at 7pm so that we can invalidate ineligible votes. In the event that we find any votes we judge to be fraudulent or in contravention of the rules, those votes will be invalidated. We ask for your understanding so that we can ensure the poll is as far as possible.”

With voting still taking place around the world until September 30th, it seems that Shueisha noticed that a number of the votes were likely invalid or sent from invalid sources. With fans seeking to support their favorites or over other characters, it seems that some fans might have taken things to the point where Shueisha had to step in and make sure all of the votes logged thus far have come from humans. 

As for the manga itself, you can now check out the complete My Hero Academia run with either Viz Media’s digital Shonen Jump library or Shueisha’s MangaPlus service with a paid subscription. The anime is now airing weekly with Crunchyroll through the Summer.