It’s safe to say that 2020 was the year of influencers.
With majority of the global population constrained by the four walls of their house, social media usage increased significantly. For instance, Instagram experienced a 12% growth while Tiktok experienced a 60% growth! As mentioned before, this drastic increase in users also translated to an increase in social media influencers.
However, according to a study by HypeAuditor, more than 55% of the Instagram influencers were involved in some kind social media fraud and fakery. A closer look into these studies suggest that accounts with over 1 Million followers accounted for the largest proportion in this group.
Ofcorse, the popular celebrities we see on screen have a much larger following on social media platforms than digital influencers, which also means they have more fake followers.
According to the list by Institute of Contemporary Music, a London-based independent music education provider, some of the most renowned celebrities have more than 40% fake Instagram followers, which are nothing but bot accounts.
These are the top 10 celebrities with most fake followers on IG as per that report by Institute of Contemporary Music:
Ellen DeGeneres: 63-year-old American television host and comedian, Ellen Degeneres is on the first position with maximum fake instagram followers accounting to a whopping 58% of her total followers. She currently enjoys a follower base of 96.8 million on IG.
South Korean Music Band, BTS: Next in line, 'BTS" also known as Bangtan Boys, is claimed to have almost 48% followers on their instagram profile. The band recently topped the Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart for their latest song "My Time".
Kardashian Sisters: Next 3 positions are acquired by the Kardashian sisters - Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe, each of whom is said to have more than 40% fake followers on Instagram. Each of the sisters have more than 100 million+ followers.
Deepika Padukone: On the 6th position, Deepika Padukone is said to have 48% fake followers. The Indian actor currently has a massive follower base of 55.6 million followers.
Katy Perry: According to the list by ICM, Katy perry sits on the seventh position. The american singer, who currently has 104 million IG followers is said to have almost 53% fake followers.
Miley Cyrus: American singer who loves to make headlines, Miley Cyrus is on the number eight position in the list. The 28 year old singer, is said to have 45% fake followers out of the total of 128 million followers she has.
Ariana Grande: Another singer in the list, Ariana Granda is on the ninth position to have maximum fake followers on Instagram. The Florida-based singer, is currently followed by 232 million accounts out of which 45% accounts are expected to be fake.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas: The Indian actor, now a global icon, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is at the tenth position on the list. The internationally acclaimed singer, enjoys a massive follower base of 62.5 million out of which 46% accounts are fake.
Recently, Instagram has acknowledged that many influencer accounts have huge fake followers wittingly or unwittingly, and they are working to remove the bot and fake accounts on the basis of inactivity, spam reports etc.
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