Fans and celebrities alike woke up to a major shake-up on their social media handles after Instagram reportedly wiped out millions of fake and bot accounts from follower lists. The so-called 'Great Purge of 2026' began trending on social media as netizens noticed that several top celebrities lost millions of followers overnight. The sudden drop is believed to be part of parent company Meta Platforms' latest crackdown on spam accounts and artificially inflated followings.
Massive Follower Losses for Top Celebrities
While Meta has yet to issue an official statement, reports on various news portals suggest that the platform is aggressively removing inactive and 'non-organic' accounts, including those linked to third-party follower services. Several high-profile celebrities were among the most affected. Kylie Jenner reportedly lost more than 14 million followers within hours, while Cristiano Ronaldo saw a drop of nearly 8 million. Selena Gomez is also said to have lost around 6 million followers. Other prominent figures reportedly impacted include Ariana Grande, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Virat Kohli, Priyanka Chopra, and many others.
Impact on K-Pop and Other Creators
This update follows a series of recent policy changes by Instagram. Fans of K-Pop groups like BTS and BLACKPINK also noticed that the groups had lost several followers in the past hours. At the same time, users across Threads have reported accidental bans and unexplained account restrictions. While several celebrities have notably lost followers, many social media influencers and content creators also reportedly lost a major chunk of their following. Some even claim that legitimate accounts may have been mistakenly targeted during the crackdown.
According to online reports, millions of accounts were reportedly removed during a six-hour window, with smaller creators allegedly losing between 2% and 5% of their follower base. Celebrity accounts appear to have experienced the steepest declines, with some losing 1 million while others crossed the 10 million mark due to the large volume of bot accounts attached to their profiles.
