Anyhow, let’s return to how the app delivers likes to your pictures.Or at least, how I believe it’s being done.

As a user of the app you have to login with your Instagram account. Nothing unusual here, you have to do this with a lot of apps and websites that are made to interact with Instagram.

After you have logged on, you are given your free 20 coins and you’re ready to have a picture liked with the amount you choose, if you can afford it. You can also choose to get a random amount of likes on every new picture you have. After you’ve selected your photo, or video, and the amount of likes, they start pouring in.

Three minutes after I chose my picture and 20 likes to be added to it. (Names blurred, because I believe they’re real.)

So, how does this work? I’m pretty sure that the app has a database where, when you connect your Instagram account to the app, it stores your granted access in order to deliver likes that people pay for later.

I left my account connected through out the night, and woke up to a confirmation of my hypothesis. My account had liked several pictures during the night.

It’s effectively a voluntary botnet.