Those with fake followers will be given a warning
Instagram is ramping up its efforts to keep its platform focused on real experiences and authentic interactions by deleting inauthentic likes, follows, and comments made using third-party apps. Those who have inauthentic likes and follows will receive a message from Instagram and will be prompted to change their password.
For this initiative, Instagram is using machine learning to determine which accounts have inauthentic likes and follows, further elaborating that this practice violates the platform’s Community Guidelines.
These days, people use their Instagram accounts to become influencers of sorts, where they nab deals from brands once they accumulate a certain number of followers. By weeding out fake followers, this should help brands in searching for influencers provide a natural engagement to their desired audience.
Inauthenticity aside, Instagram’s latest move discourages users from giving their login credentials to a third-party company, citing possibilities of being hacked or being bombarded with spam. “Not only does this introduce bad behavior into the Instagram community, it also makes these accounts less secure,” Instagram said in their post.
The campaign comes in light of Facebook’s removal of fake accounts, where a number of these accounts propagate fake news and misinformation to users. To date, Facebook has deleted a total of 754 million fake accounts.
