Instagram makes no claims about the nature of the "likes", nor their meaning on their website. The only restriction their TOS mentions about "likes" is that th

Instagram makes no claims about the nature of the "likes", nor their meaning on their website. The only restriction their TOS mentions about "likes" is that they shouldn't be "unwanted" ("aka spam"), there's absolutely nothing about them having to be sincere, permanent, not in exchange for money etc.