The University of Cambridge launched the Cambridge Online Trust and Safety Index on 11th December, exposing a thriving underground market where fake social media account verifications can be purchased for as little as 8 cents. The index allows the global community to monitor real-time market data for the online manipulation economy, tracking prices across over 500 social media and commercial platforms in every country. A new analysis using twelve months of data, published in the journal Science, shows that verifying fake accounts for use in the US and UK is almost as cheap as in Russia.
Meta, Grindr, and Shopify rank amongst platforms with the cheapest fake accounts for sale, at a global average of $0.08 per verification, followed by X and Instagram at $0.10 per account, TikTok and LinkedIn at $0.11, and Amazon at $0.12. Prices for fake accounts on Telegram and WhatsApp rose sharply in countries about to hold national elections, increasing by 12 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in the 30 days before polls opened. Anton Dek, a research associate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, stated that whatever the nature of inauthentic online activity, much of it is funnelled through this manipulation market, allowing researchers to follow the money. In April 2025, the UK became the first country in Europe to pass legislation making SIM farms illegal.
These accounts are often used to build bot-armies designed to mimic real people and shape online public debate using generative AI, deployed to flood conversations, promote scams or products, or push political messages in a coordinated way. Sander van der Linden, co-author of the study and a professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, stated that the index shines a light on the shadow economy of online manipulation by turning a hidden market into measurable data. The team behind the study, which includes misinformation and cryptocurrency experts, believe that regulating SIM cards and enforcing ID checks would raise the cost of producing fake accounts and help curb the market.
Sources:
1. https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/price-bot-army-global-index
2. https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/12/12/cheap-online-fake-accounts-make-misinformation-a-thriving-underground-market-study-finds
