Instagram glitch caused major drop in follower count

An Instagram glitch led to a drop in follower count for users globally. Instagram said it is working on a fix.

By: MARCIA SEKHOSE
| Updated on: Aug 20 2022, 13:19 IST
Instagram users will soon get their lost followers back.
Instagram users will soon get their lost followers back. (Shutterstock)

Instagram users recently noticed a drastic drop in their follower count. This was understood to be Instagram's move of removing unauthentic accounts. It appears the sudden drop in follower count was actually due to an Instagram glitch.

Last November, Instagram announced it would start removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to generate popularity on the platform.

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"We've built machine learning tools to help identify accounts that use these services and remove the inauthentic activity. Accounts we identify using these services will receive an in-app message alerting them that we have removed the inauthentic likes, follows and comments given by their account to others," Instagram said in its blog post.

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The drop in follower count was experienced by users globally. Some users reported losing as many as 50k followers, while some lost around 20-30 followers. This was followed by Instagram users acknowledging the fact that Instagram is purging fake accounts from their pages. This supposed purge was affecting non-influencers and celebrities as well. .

 

 

 

 

Instagram later tweeted that the drop in follower count is actually due to a bug. The photo-sharing app said it is working on a fix for the Instagram glitch which should be solved by 10:30 pm IST.

 

Some Instagram users have started getting back their lost followers after the announcement. Instagram's incident is similar to a Twitter bug which caused drops in likes and retweets for many users. Some Twitter users faced issues with notifications as well. Twitter is also working on a fix for the bug.

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First Published Date: 14 Feb, 12:01 IST
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