Violators can face civil penalties as high as $51,744 per violation .

While a casual user likely won’t find the FBI at their door for padding a personal account with a few hundred bots, the story changes dramatically the moment those numbers are used to generate profit.

The most significant shift in the legality of buying followers came in , when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) introduced a landmark final rule.

The FTC now explicitly prohibits buying or selling fake social media indicators—like followers, likes, or views—when they are used to mislead the public about a brand or person’s actual influence for a commercial purpose .

This wasn't a sudden whim. The FTC previously targeted companies like Devumi , which settled for $2.5 million after being found to have sold fake followers to influencers, athletes, and professionals to help them secure lucrative deals.