Tim, rightly or wrongly, was heavily trolled on LinkedIn. His brand of bullshit platitudes rubbed as certain section of society up the wrong way. Mostly from the UK. Its here they exposed the ways he grew his followers and the people he employed to do it. A quick Google search will show you how you can buy followers for any platform. Many are using social media agencies like BAMF in order to raise their profiles. This leads to speaking engagements, book deals, sponsors etc.
You should never take anyone at face value if their life is entirely on and about social media. Or if they have 100s and 1000s of followers? Always question. Always dig deeper.