Quick answer
Buying Instagram followers from a site like Mega Famous cost $2.95 for 100 and $39.99 for 5,000 in a BM Magazine listing, as of October 2022; we quote no current price. The bigger risk for a US business is FTC rule 16 CFR 465.8, in force since October 21, 2024: it covers followers a purchaser "knew or should have known to be fake," used "for a commercial purpose."
Mega Famous is a seller name people search when they're shopping for paid Instagram followers, and nothing we read says who's behind it. Got a US shop or creator account where a follower package looks like a shortcut to trust? Know what the money buys first.
This guide opens with the records and a 2022 price list, then what buying Instagram followers cost. Next come engagement rate, the FTC rule on fake followers, who the rule reaches, and how to clean the account up. Our view? Skip the package.
Key takeaways
- Buying fake followers falls under FTC rule 465.8 with knowledge and commercial purpose.
- In our example, 5,000 bought followers cut engagement rate from 3.00% to 0.86%.
- A 2022 listing priced 5,000 followers at $39.99, about $8.00 per 1,000.
- Instagram says it removes activity from inauthentic accounts once it finds them.
- Real fans sent by paid influencers aren't fake indicators, the FTC says.
Mega Famous in the records: one 2022 price list
We tried to find out who runs Mega Famous and couldn't. No FTC, eCFR, Federal Register, Instagram or Meta page we checked on October 30, 2026 mentions the seller or its owners. We didn't search regulator or court databases, and we didn't open the seller's site. That matters if an order goes wrong: a seller nobody can name is hard to chase. What we did find is one dated price list. It ran in BM Magazine on October 4, 2022, inside an article that promotes the seller under the name MegaFamous. Since that page promotes the seller, we name it but don't link it. Its prices are 2022 data and may not match anything on sale now.
They're worth a look anyway, as a sample of how bulk pricing was pitched.
What did buying Instagram followers cost?
In that 2022 list, the smallest follower package was 100 followers for $2.95, and the largest was 5,000 followers for $39.99, as of October 2022. Per follower, the math is price divided by followers. Instagram's warning against follower and like apps points to a second price some of these offers ask for: "your Instagram login details."
| Package (2022 listing) | Price, as of October 2022 | Formula | Per 1,000 followers |
| 100 followers | $2.95 | $2.95 / 100 x 1,000 | $29.50 |
| 5,000 followers | $39.99 | $39.99 / 5,000 x 1,000 | $8.00 |
Per follower, the big pack cost about 27% of the small one ($8.00 against $29.50 per 1,000, as of October 2022). The money buys delivery, not followers who'll stay. Instagram's help article on sudden drops in likes and follows says some outside apps create automated follows "to make an account appear more popular than it is." Once Instagram finds those accounts, "their activity is removed from Instagram," according to that page. Part of what you paid for can drop off your count, and the page says totals may change "even within a short time." Repeat buyers face more: the follower-apps page warns that accounts that keep using such apps "may notice that certain parts of their Instagram account are limited."
Action blocks and appeals have their own guide: Instagram's rules for coin follow exchanges like Expert Kamai.
Drawn by us, from a BM Magazine article dated October 4, 2022. Old prices, not a current offer.How fake followers change your engagement rate
Engagement rate is a number anyone can work out from a public profile, brand partners included. The formula we use is engagements per post divided by followers, times 100, where engagements means likes plus comments. Bought followers raise the bottom of that fraction. If they never like or comment, the top doesn't move. The rate falls.
Here's an example account we made up for this test. It has 2,000 real followers and averages 60 likes and comments per post, so its rate is 60 / 2,000 x 100 = 3.00%. Add 5,000 bought followers who never engage, and it's 60 / 7,000 x 100 = 0.86%. Same posts, same fans. The rate is now less than a third of what it was, and the table runs every package size from the 2022 list through the same formula:
| Bought followers (example) | Total followers | Engagement rate | Share bought | Engagements needed to stay at 3.00% |
| 0 | 2,000 | 3.00% | 0.0% | 60 |
| 100 | 2,100 | 2.86% | 4.8% | 63 |
| 250 | 2,250 | 2.67% | 11.1% | 67.5 |
| 500 | 2,500 | 2.40% | 20.0% | 75 |
| 1,000 | 3,000 | 2.00% | 33.3% | 90 |
| 2,500 | 4,500 | 1.33% | 55.6% | 135 |
| 5,000 | 7,000 | 0.86% | 71.4% | 210 |
Look at the last column before you buy anything. To look as engaged after 5,000 bought followers as it did before, the example account would need 210 engagements per post, which is 3.5 times its real 60. Even the smallest pack, 100 followers, means 63 engagements per post just to stand still, and at 1,000 bought a third of the audience is paid for. Anyone who divides likes by followers will spot that gap in seconds. If brand deals are your goal, our beginner guide to influencer marketing shows where those partnerships start. Bought views on X do the same thing to an impressions-based rate, and how X counts Twitter impressions walks through it with its own numbers.
What we tested
We ran an offline Python script and a calculator page on October 30, 2026, and both produced the table above. Giving bought followers 0.1 engagements per 100, not zero, moved the 5,000 row only from 0.86% to 0.93%.
5,000 bought: 0.86% (0 eng.), 0.93% (0.1/100)
Screenshot: our engagement calculator at 127.0.0.1:8743 with its default example inputs, October 30, 2026.The FTC rule on fake followers, word for word
The FTC's "Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials" sits in Title 16 of the federal rules. Its section 465.8 is titled "Misuse of fake indicators of social media influence." It makes two things "an unfair or deceptive act or practice" for anyone, as of October 2026:
| Part | Who it covers | Exact text |
| 465.8(a) | Sellers and distributors | "Sell or distribute fake indicators of social media influence that they knew or should have known to be fake and that can be used by individuals or businesses to materially misrepresent their influence or importance for a commercial purpose" |
| 465.8(b) | Buyers | "Purchase or procure fake indicators of social media influence that they knew or should have known to be fake and that materially misrepresent their influence or importance for a commercial purpose" |
Two definitions in section 465.1 decide what counts. Indicators of social media influence are metrics "such as followers, friends, connections, subscribers, views, plays, likes, saves, shares, reposts, and comments." The fake kind takes in metrics "generated by bots" or "hijacked accounts," and also any that "otherwise do not reflect a real individual's or entity's activities, opinions, findings, or experiences." A follower from a bot farm fits that wording. So does one from a stolen account.
The rule appeared in the Federal Register on August 22, 2024, at 89 FR 68034, with an effective date of October 21, 2024. The FTC's press release of August 14, 2024 sums up the social media part in one line. It's a ban on "selling or buying fake indicators of social media influence, such as followers or views generated by a bot or hijacked account." On penalties, the release says the final rule will "allow the agency to seek civil penalties against knowing violators." The FTC's questions and answers page on the rule puts it as "The rule authorizes courts to impose civil penalties for knowing violations." Neither page gives a dollar figure, so we don't either.
Diagram by DigitalTreed. Box wording follows 16 CFR 465.8(b) and 465.1(h); the strip cites the FTC's August 14, 2024 release, read October 30, 2026.Who the rule reaches, and who it leaves out
For a buyer, three conditions have to line up. The followers are fake, and the purchaser "knew or should have known" that. They also "materially misrepresent their influence or importance for a commercial purpose."
The FTC's Q&A page then walks through cases a small business could run into. Say you pay a marketing firm to grow your followers and it quietly delivers fake ones. The FTC's answer: "you wouldn't be liable unless there were some red flags that should have tipped you off that the followers were fake." What counts as a red flag in your case is a question for a lawyer.
Two more answers on that page help businesses that work with creators. Paying influencers to ask their fans to follow you isn't procuring fake indicators, "because these followers are real people who chose to follow the business account." Hiring an influencer who happens to have fake followers doesn't make your business liable under this rule either. The FTC says the provision "focuses on the 'distribution' of fake indicators of social media influence." Distribution, in that answer, means passing them "to individuals or businesses who could use the indicators to misrepresent their influence."
The idea is older than the rule. The FTC's guides on endorsements, 16 CFR 255.0, give the example of a motivational speaker who "buys fake social media followers to impress potential clients." They call that "not itself an endorsement issue." Yet they still call it "a deceptive practice" to buy such indicators "and then use them to misrepresent such influence" for a commercial purpose. Since October 21, 2024, buying them for that purpose also falls under a rule that carries civil penalties for knowing violations.
A personal account with no business behind it? The Federal Register notice says individuals who aren't acting "for a commercial purpose" are "excluded from the rule's scope." The rule doesn't define the term, so if the account earns money in any way, talk to a lawyer.
Already bought followers? Clean the account up
If you've already bought a package, you can't undo it, but you can shrink what's left. Instagram's page on removing spam or bot followers says accounts likely to be spam "will be filtered to a separate list in your Followers tab." Here's the path it gives, as of October 30, 2026:
- Go to your profile and tap your follower list.
- Tap Potential spam and review the accounts one by one.
- To clear them all, tap Remove all spam followers, then tap Remove.
- Under Menu, Settings and privacy, Followers, keep Filter spam followers turned on.
With the filter on, likely spam accounts "can't follow you without your confirmation." Then rerun the formula with your own numbers.
Drawn by us. Steps follow Instagram's help article on spam and bot followers as worded on October 30, 2026; labels may change.Did the seller ever have your password? Then the cleanup goes further. Our steps for securing an account after a site like Naz Tricks got your login start with your email. If you're worried about what it kept, what sites like YT Teacher store and how to delete it covers removing access and asking for deletion. Checking a site before you type anything into it has its own walkthrough: how to check a follower site like Cookape. Story viewers raise their own privacy questions, covered in anonymous story viewers like Instanavigation, and there's a settings side in hiding Instagram stories from certain viewers.
Our take: skip the package. In our example, $39.99 at 2022 prices cut the rate from 3.00% to 0.86% and, for a business, added 465.8 risk. Real followers come slower, and they stay. Stories don't cost anything to post, and each of the 20 Instagram Story ideas for business on our site comes with a way to measure it. For the wider plan, read these Instagram marketing strategy tips, or hand the work to DigitalTreed's social media marketing services and let a team run it for you. If a seller took your money and delivered nothing, the FTC takes reports of "fraud, scams, and bad business practices" at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Mega Famous and fake follower questions
Frequently asked
Is buying followers against Instagram's rules?
Yes. Meta's Spam policy, which covers Instagram, bans "selling, buying, or exchanging for engagement, such as likes, shares, views, follows."
Are follower apps connected to Instagram?
No. Instagram's follower apps page says "None of these services are affiliated with or endorsed by Instagram."
Will removed spam followers find out?
No. Instagram's spam followers page says "We won't tell them that they've been removed from your followers."
Was the FTC rule a close vote?
No. The FTC's announcement says the Commission vote to approve the final rule "was 5-0."
How we made this guide: Our reading covered 16 CFR Parts 465 and 255 on eCFR, the Federal Register notice and two FTC pages. Three Instagram Help pages and Meta's Spam policy were read signed out, plus a 2022 BM Magazine article for the old prices. We opened no follower site and bought nothing. Facts checked by the DigitalTreed team on October 30, 2026.
First published December 2023, describing Mega Famous as a way to get followers and likes. Rewritten October 30, 2026 to cover what buying followers costs and what US law says about it.
Sources
- eCFR: 16 CFR 465.8, Misuse of fake indicators of social media influence
- eCFR: 16 CFR 465.1, Definitions
- eCFR: 16 CFR 255.0, Endorsement Guides, purpose and definitions
- Federal Register: Trade Regulation Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 89 FR 68034
- FTC: Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials
- FTC: The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, Questions and Answers
- Instagram Help: Why you should not use apps that offer likes and followers
- Instagram Help: Changes to your likes, follows or comments
- Instagram Help: How to remove spam or bot followers
- Meta Transparency Center: Spam policy
- FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov
- BM Magazine, "8 reasons why you should use Megafamous in 2022", October 4, 2022 (2022 prices only; not linked because it promotes the seller)
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