How much for a bot army? Index tracks prices across hundreds of online platforms, from TikTok to Amazon

How Much Do Fake Account Verifications Really Cost Across the World?

A new site that tracks the daily fluctuating costs behind building a bot army on over 500 social media and commercial platforms – from TikTok to Amazon and Spotify – in every nation on the planet is launched by the University of Cambridge. For the first time, the Cambridge Online Trust and Safety Index (COTSI) allows the global community to monitor real-time market data for the “online manipulation economy”: the SIM farms that mass-produce fake …

Fake online ‘bot armies’ can be built for next to nothing, study shows

A new Cambridge University index exposes the thriving underground market where fake social media account verifications can be purchased for as little as 8 cents, fueling online manipulation and election interference worldwide.

How much for a bot army? Index tracks prices across hundreds of online platforms, from TikTok to Amazon

A new site that tracks the daily fluctuating costs behind building a bot army on over 500 social media and commercial platforms—from TikTok to Amazon and Spotify—in every nation on the planet is launched today by the University of Cambridge.