Instagram has removed a reported 50 million fake, spam, bot, and inactive accounts in what users online have described as the Great Purge of the year 2026.
The mass removal caused sudden and steep follower count drops across celebrity, influencer, and brand accounts on the platform, triggering widespread discussion across social media.
Meta has not officially confirmed the scale of the cleanup operation, but reports from online tracking services suggest the impact has been one of the largest yet.
Accounts most affected by the purge
Accounts linked to third-party follower boosting services, which artificially inflate follower numbers, appear to have been among the most severely affected during the cleanup operation.
The follower drops were reported to have occurred within just a few hours, with several high-profile pages losing millions of followers faster than in any previous cleanup.
Kylie Jenner, BLACKPINK, Selena Gomez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Virat Kohli, and Priyanka Chopra collectively lost millions of followers, reflecting widespread impact across entertainment and sports.
| Celebrity / Account | Reported Follower Loss |
|---|---|
| Kylie Jenner | Over 15 million |
| BLACKPINK (official) | Over 10 million |
| Selena Gomez | Nearly 6 million |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | ~6.6 million |
| Lionel Messi | Over 4.8 million |
| Virat Kohli | Over 2 million |
| Priyanka Chopra | ~1.1 million |
Music stars and smaller creators also hit
Several major music artists, including Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Shakira, also reportedly recorded sharp follower count declines.
Smaller creators and influencers were not spared, with many reportedly losing between two and five percent of their total audience during the same cleanup period.
History of account cleanups
Instagram has carried out similar account removal operations before, aimed at improving the authenticity of engagement and the overall quality of data visible to users and brands.
Reports suggest the 2026 operation surpassed previous cleanups in scale, with the volume of removed accounts and the speed of follower drops described as unusually large by observers.
