What Happened to Nakrutka? Meta Won, It Still Sells

Nakrutka sold fake Instagram likes, followers, views and comments from Belarus since June 26, 2017 at the latest, by Facebook's complaint. Facebook and Instagram sued its operator, Nikolay Holper, in San Francisco on August 27, 2020. On November 22, 2022, Judge William Alsup entered a default judgment for $199,535.44. Yet nakrutka.com still sold Instagram boosting on October 24, 2026. We sell followers, likes and views too, so read this as a seller's page.

Quick Answer: Facebook and Instagram sued Nakrutka's operator in 2020, after disabling the accounts and sending a cease and desist letter. Holper didn't answer. The court entered a default judgment of $199,535.44 on November 22, 2022: $100,000 for cybersquatting on instagram.by, $89,351 in attorney's fees and $10,184.44 in costs. Facebook had asked for $6.1 million. The sites kept running, and nakrutka.com still sold followers and likes in Russian on October 24, 2026.

"Nakrutka instagram" gets about 12,100 Google searches a month, up 87% in recent months, by Google's Keyword Planner on October 24, 2026.

The case, dated

Date	What happened
June 26, 2017	Nakrutka sells by this date
January 1, 2020	Facebook disables the accounts
February 2, 2020	The goat photo test
February 2020	A cease and desist letter
August 27, 2020	Facebook and Instagram sue
November 4, 2021	Default entered
September 27, 2022	Judge Spero's report
November 22, 2022	$199,535.44 judgment
October 24, 2026	nakrutka.com still sells

The complaint, the report and recommendation, the order and the final judgment in Facebook, Inc. v. Holper, No. 3:20-cv-06023 (N.D. Cal.), from CourtListener's copies; our check of nakrutka.com through our server on October 24, 2026.

What did Nakrutka sell?

Likes, followers, views and comments for Instagram. Facebook's translations of the sites render the pitch as "INSTAGRAM BOOST" and "CHEAT INSTAGRAM," by the complaint. Its own price list showed what buyers got. Facebook filed a translated copy of the prices page from August 25, 2020:

Package	Per 1,000	Write-offs
Likes, bots with avatars	38 rubles	98%
Followers, bots, no guarantee	61 rubles	99%
Followers, bots and live mix	185 rubles	40%
Followers, mix from many countries	269 rubles	37%

Exhibit 7 to the complaint, "2020-08-25 - Prices page from nakrutka.cc," in Facebook's translation. Write-offs are the share of an order the page listed as likely to drop.

The likes came from "a network of bots and Instagram accounts," and some of those accounts were "responsible for over 8 million likes over the course of just two days," the complaint says. On February 2, 2020, after 10,000 likes were bought on nakrutka.by, an account with no followers posted a black-and-white photo of a goat. The photo "received almost 10,000 likes within minutes," it says. Five other accounts did the same that day and got between about 3,000 and 10,000 likes each. The likes came from accounts using more than 180,000 IP addresses. An investigator later told the court the service had reached more than 38,000 Instagram accounts of US users.

Why did Facebook sue?

Facebook disabled Holper's Facebook and Instagram accounts on January 1, 2020 and said the activity broke its terms and US law, by the report. The service kept running, and it didn't reply to a cease and desist letter in February 2020. In an interview with a Belarusian site, Holper said the services "may violate some Instagram rules" and declined to stop, the report says.

The suit made eight claims. They ran from breach of Instagram's terms and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to trademark infringement and cybersquatting over the instagram.by domain.

What did the court decide?

Holper didn't appear. Service through the Hague Convention failed, so the court allowed it by email and post, done on September 27, 2021, and the clerk entered default on November 4, 2021. A default judgment takes the complaint's claims as true, since nobody's there to dispute them.

Facebook asked for $6.1 million in statutory damages: $2 million for each of three websites using its mark, plus $100,000 for instagram.by. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero recommended far less on September 27, 2022. The sites wrote the name as "ИНСТАГРАМ" in Cyrillic. The report accepted that it was "sufficiently similar to support a likelihood of confusion" and found it wasn't an "identical" mark, so the large counterfeit damages fell away. Instagram's brand rules say the "word Instagram cannot be . . . modified, abbreviated or translated regardless of the surrounding text," so the Cyrillic name still broke the terms. That left $100,000 for cybersquatting, and that's the most the law allows per domain.

Judge Alsup adopted the report on November 22, 2022, except for the fees. Facebook's lawyers had asked for $178,702. Spero cut that by 40%, and Alsup by 50% in all, to $89,351. "This reads gratuitous," the order says of twenty billing entries for "status" updates. The final judgment, $199,535.44, came the same day. CourtListener's copy of the docket ends there, so the public record doesn't show whether any of it was paid.

Is Nakrutka still working?

Yes. On October 24, 2026, nakrutka.com answered our server with a Russian-language shop titled "Накрутка Инстаграм: Подписчики, Лайки, Просмотры. Гарантия," which translates as Instagram boosting: followers, likes, views, guarantee. It sells followers, likes, views, comments and reposts. In our translation, it offers a "guarantee against write-offs," wholesale for resellers and a free boosting option. nakrutka.by forwards to it, as it did in 2021, and nakrutka.cc sells in Ukrainian. instagram.by didn't answer.

The court noticed it in 2022. Spero's report noted in September 2022 that the sites still advertised the same services "in substantially the same form" after the lawsuit. We can't tell who runs them now. nakrutka.com has been registered since June 28, 2008, and its registration runs to June 2027.

The 2020 price list puts today's "guarantee" in context: the same shop listed write-offs of 98% and 99% on its cheapest packages. We didn't buy anything, so we couldn't test the promise.

Is Nakrutka safe to use?

It runs against Instagram's rules, which ask users not to be "artificially collecting likes, followers, or shares," a line the case quotes. The court entered judgment on Facebook's claims that the service broke Instagram's terms and federal computer law. And its own 2020 prices showed most bot packages dropping almost entirely. Our history of Instagram bots covers others Meta pushed out.

Where does HCLOUT fit?

We sell followers, likes and views, so read this as a seller's pitch. Orders need a link or a username, and we never ask for your password. If an order fails or only partly delivers, we refund it automatically to your HCLOUT balance. Our free tier gives 12 free Instagram likes or 100 free Instagram views on a public post, with an email. Instagram's rules apply to bought likes too, ours included.

Try HCLOUT Free | See Pricing

Frequently asked questions

What happened to Nakrutka?

Facebook and Instagram sued its operator in 2020 and won a $199,535.44 default judgment on November 22, 2022. The sites kept selling, and nakrutka.com was still live on October 24, 2026.

Is Nakrutka still working?

Yes. nakrutka.com sold Instagram boosting in Russian on October 24, 2026, and nakrutka.cc in Ukrainian.

Why did Facebook sue Nakrutka?

It sold fake likes and followers through a network of bots and accounts, against Instagram's terms, and it used Instagram's name, including the instagram.by domain, by the complaint.

How much did Nakrutka have to pay?

The judgment was $199,535.44: $100,000 for cybersquatting, $89,351 in attorney's fees and $10,184.44 in costs. The public docket doesn't show whether it was paid.

What does nakrutka mean?

Facebook's translations of the sites render its pitch as "INSTAGRAM BOOST" and "CHEAT INSTAGRAM." The word fronts the site's title, "Накрутка Инстаграм."

Who ran Nakrutka?

Nikolay Holper of Belarus, by the court's documents. We can't tell who runs the sites now.

Sources

• Facebook, Inc. v. Holper, No. 3:20-cv-06023 (N.D. Cal.): complaint (August 27, 2020), report and recommendation (September 27, 2022), order adopting in part and final judgment (November 22, 2022), from CourtListener's RECAP copies, read October 24, 2026
• CourtListener's docket for the case, read October 24, 2026
• nakrutka.com, nakrutka.by, nakrutka.cc and instagram.by, checked through our server, and Verisign's record for nakrutka.com, October 24, 2026
• Google Ads Keyword Planner, October 24, 2026, and Hclout's free tier and FAQ, read October 24, 2026