On Instagram, it was easy to do. While Facebook was for people using their real identities, Instagram allowed anonymity. Anyone could make an account based on an email address or phone number. So it was quite easy to make more seemingly real people, and sell their attention. If you searched “get Instagram followers” on Google, dozens of small faceless firms offered to make fame and riches more accessible, for a fee. For a few hundred dollars, you could buy thousands of followers, and even dictate exactly what these accounts were supposed to say in your comments.
