Recently, Instagram purged its site of what it deems as spammy accounts in a move to clean up and get rid of accounts that are not actually "real people."
"We're committed to doing everything possible to keep Instagram free from the fake and spammy accounts that plague much of the web, and that's why we're finishing up some important work that began earlier this year," says Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom in a post in Instagram News. "We've been deactivating spammy accounts from Instagram on an ongoing basis to improve your experience."
Along with the move is the issuance of verified badges for brands, celebrities, and athletes, which makes it easier for users to find the accounts that are authentic. Many fake accounts are meant to simply mislead, although others are created with the aim of boosting the numbers of whoever wants them, some of which can be bought wholesale.
While this is a positive move on the part of Facebook-owned Instagram as it benefits many real followers who want to connect with real celebrities and brands, it's not exactly advantageous for public personalities and businesses who rely on numbers to boost their popularity, which, in essence, equates to greater marketing potential. Not everyone who has thousands of followers buy them, of course, but it still means that some users would be hard-hit by this move.
"As part of this effort, we will be deleting these accounts forever, so they will no longer be included in follower counts. This means that some of you will see a change in your follower count," Systrom further says.
According to a report by Telegraph, several celebrities felt the blow of this purge, including Oprah Winfrey who lost 100,000 followers. Nonetheless, the well-loved host and actress still has 3.2 million followers to date. The site also mentions Justin Bieber who lost as much as 3.5 million followers but still maintains 20.3 million, while Kim Kardashian's numbers reportedly dropped by 1.3 million followers with 22.2 million spared, making her the most-followed user in the site.
