Reported by Gold 101.3 FM, UAE’s No.1 Malayalam radio station
Instagram has carried out a large-scale cleanup of bot, spam, and inactive accounts, resulting in noticeable drops in follower counts for users around the world.
The move is believed to be part of parent company Meta’s ongoing efforts to improve authenticity and reduce fake engagement across the platform. While Instagram regularly removes suspicious accounts, users say this latest cleanup appears to be far more extensive, with some profiles losing hundreds or even thousands of followers almost overnight.
The changes have affected a wide range of accounts, including influencers, content creators, brands, and public figures who rely heavily on follower numbers and engagement metrics. In most cases, the decline is understood to be linked to the removal of fake, automated, or inactive profiles rather than genuine followers actively unfollowing accounts.
Instagram has not announced the action as a major policy change, instead treating it as part of its continuous enforcement of platform integrity standards. The company aims to ensure that engagement data more accurately reflects real user activity, which can also influence how posts and videos are ranked and recommended within the app.
For creators, the impact is mainly visible in follower counts and engagement rates. Accounts with large numbers of inactive followers may notice shifts in performance metrics, while everyday users are unlikely to experience significant changes in how they use the platform.
Some users have shared personal experiences following the cleanup. One influencer reported losing nearly 300 followers shortly after reaching the 11,000 mark, despite making no changes to her posting activity.
At the same time, some users have expressed concern over the removal of inactive accounts alongside bots and spam profiles. Critics argue that certain inactive profiles may belong to people who no longer use the platform or individuals who have passed away, with their accounts serving as digital memory spaces for family and friends.
One user on X commented that while removing bots is understandable, deleting inactive profiles could be sensitive because some accounts hold emotional value and memories for loved ones.
Instagram already offers a memorialisation feature that allows accounts belonging to deceased users to be marked as “Remembering” after verification. These profiles remain online while preventing major account changes and preserving shared content. However, not every inactive account is converted into a memorialised profile, which has added to the current discussion surrounding the cleanup.
Overall, the latest purge appears to be affecting accounts across the platform, with the scale of follower losses depending largely on how many inactive or low-quality accounts were connected to each profile.
