If the site is accurate, some of the biggest Twitter users, including President Obama, Lady GaGa and Justin Bieber, have thousands or even millions of "followers" who aren't real people.

I've been looking into this phenomenon, and I've been shocked by what I've found. There is, apparently, a massive lies-for-sale industry made up of services that either offer tools to help people lie, or tell lies directly on behalf of their customers.

How much does it cost to fake popularity? On the cheap side, you can buy 1,000 Twitter followers for $14 on a site called ; 5,000 followers cost $43; 100,000 cost $487.

Followers are even cheaper on , where you can buy 1,000 followers for $10 -- or 1 million for $1,350.