Can YouTube fame be bought?

Subvert & Profit — which allows advertisers to pay for higher rankings on communities like Digg and StumbleUpon — is bringing its astroturf might to YouTube.

TechCrunch finds that the site's founders operate under pseudonyms and proxied whois records.

Some compare the service to the PayPerPost model, where publishers can pay for links back to their site from within comments strewn across the 'net. Google recently castrated the PageRanks of some PayPerPost clients.

But sometimes seediness does pay. Subvert & Profit upped its rates this year, charging advertisers $2 per vote on Digg and StumbleUpon. The service in turn buys votes off users for $1 a pop.

The YouTube variant launches this year. TechCrunch speculates it may turn videos into viral hits via email lists, comments, views, blog embeds, and ratings.