Instagram has decided to follow through with its promise to remove all fake accounts, earning the wrath of its users after their follower numbers dropped in what is widely called the Instagram Rapture.
Instagram started removing fake spambot accounts and accounts that were found to have violated the photo-sharing account’s Community Guidelines, but users, causing hordes of Instagram users to flare up in anger and confusion as they saw the number of their followers drop. Some users have begged Instagram to reinstate their lost followers back, while others are offering follow-backs for people to follow them.
But while some users report losing hundreds of followers in the first few hours Instagram started purging the website of fake accounts, Instagram’s most popular accounts were the worst casualties. A graph created by developer Zach Allia shows how Hollywood celebrities with followers running up to the millions were devastated most.
Rapper Akon, who had more than 4 million followers saw his numbers cut to more than half after Instagram booted out 56 percent of his followers. “Billionaire” singer Bruno Mars also saw his follower numbers drop by 23 percent from 3.6 million to 2.8 million, and social media queen Kim Kardashian, who owns the third biggest Instagram account, saw her followers drop by 1 million. One user named chiragchirag78 lost pretty much all of his 3,660,000 followers. He now has eight.
However, it’s not chiragchirag78 who is the biggest loser. Instagram’s own account, which before had 64 million followers, lost a whopping 18 million followers, or 30 percent of its total number, after the purging began. The drop in Instagram’s followers is likely due to a campaign started by one user who urged all users to boycott Instagram.
“Everyone, if we all work together Instagram could have no followers, get what I’m saying?” – coloured.pixels.
With all the rant, it seems people do not mind being followed even by fake people, bots, or spammers. What’s important for them is the number of followers and that says a lot about such users.
Additional Source: KONBINI
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