Since May 7th, users have noticed a sudden decrease in the number of followers for many celebrities, influencers, and major brands on Instagram. Behind this phenomenon is a large clean-up operation led by Meta, the parent company of the social network, aiming to delete inactive accounts, automated profiles, and fake followers.
Cristiano Ronaldo is among the most affected personalities. The Portuguese star reportedly lost up to 20 million followers after this purge. Despite this dramatic drop, he remains the most followed personality on Instagram with approximately 664 million followers.
Other international celebrities have also seen a sudden decrease in their audience. Kylie Jenner reportedly lost over 14 million followers, while Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande each experienced a drop of around 7 million followers. In the world of football, Lionel Messi lost nearly 8 million followers and Kylian Mbappé lost about 1 million.
The phenomenon is not limited to celebrities. The official Instagram account itself allegedly lost nearly 9 million followers according to several reports. The wave of deletions also affected international artists like the BTS group and several Bollywood stars.
In response to user reactions, Meta confirmed that this operation was part of its usual process of removing inactive accounts and profiles considered as spam. The company asserts that active subscribers are not affected, and accounts suspended in error can be reinstated after verification.
This purge is part of a larger strategy to clean up social platforms. According to estimates, between 10% and 15% of active accounts on Instagram are fake or automated. Meta also claims to have removed over 500 million fake accounts in 2025 in its fight against spam and artificial interactions.
Beyond the impact on celebrities, this operation could also transform the influencer marketing industry. Digital experts suggest that brands are now placing less importance on the sheer number of followers and more on the quality of real audiences.
Advertisers are now more interested in authentic interactions like comments, shares, views, or real engagement rates, rather than artificially inflated numbers by bots or purchased followers.
Behind the economy of followers lies a parallel market. Several specialized platforms still offer the purchase of fake followers, likes, or views for a few tens of dollars. Some services, for example, sell 10,000 followers between 50 and 100 dollars, with often automated or completely inactive accounts.
According to analyses from 2026, nearly 37% of the followers of some of the world’s biggest influencers show signs of inactivity or fraud. This phenomenon reportedly costs brands up to 4.6 billion dollars a year through advertising campaigns based on artificially inflated audiences.
Instagram is not the only platform intensifying such operations. X also launched its own campaign against bots last April to limit spam and artificial interactions on its network.
