Instagram is littered with accounts whose followers are made up of paid-for bots and fake comments, but not for much longer. In a post on its website overnight, Instagram has announced that it will begin to crack down on inauthentic activity.
“Recently, we’ve seen accounts use third-party apps to artificially grow their audience. Every day people come to Instagram to have real experiences, including genuine interactions. It is our responsibility to ensure these experiences aren’t disrupted by inauthentic activity,” it wrote.
To help combat this, the company says it has “built machine learning tools to help identify accounts” that buy followers and likes. Once identified, the account will be notified through the platform with message explaining that the fake likes, follows and comments on their posts will be removed. Older posts won’t be affected however for those who have purchased any of the above, the newer posts will show a significantly lessened number of likes and comments making it fairly obvious they’ve previously dabbled in paid-for engagement. #Awks.
Looks like it’s going to be a very interesting few weeks ahead.
Now, find out more about the three new shopping features Instagram has just introduced.
