Back in October, word started making the rounds of an AI startup called Doublespeed. Backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Doublespeed offers customers a unique service: access to a massive phone farm that could be used to operate hundreds of AI-generated social media accounts. Doublespeed’s TikTok accounts ran a gamut of different cons, promoting language learning apps, supplements, massage products, dating apps and more. So far, Doublespeed is only active on TikTok, though it has plans to expand to Instagram, Reddit, and X-formerly-Twitter. When it does, it seems all bets are off — with social media engagement, and all the influence it entails, being relegated to the highest bidder.