Social media users, advertisers and regulators were aghast this past week over revelations in a report by The New York Times of a thriving cottage industry that creates fake followers on Twitter, Facebook or other channels for anybody willing to pay for them. Called “bots,” these fake accounts are available in the thousands to those that want to boost their popularity with tweets or retweets on Twitter, or Facebook likes or shares. Although Twitter and Facebook officially frown on users buying followers and regularly take down fake accounts, they have a vested interest in the popularity scores of their users because advertisers use those metrics. The political will also may not be readily available to legislate against buying followers, experts say, pointing out that some of President Trump’s appointees also bought followers, in addition to others such as computer billionaire Michael Dell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s actress wife Louise Linton.…