Instagram to Crack Down on Fakers

Influencers and brands who use bot apps to boost their popularity and increase audience growth may be in big trouble, thanks to a new initiative just announced by Instagram.

In a recent blog post, the mega popular social networking service said it would start removing fake likes, follows, and comments by implementing new “machine learning tools” it had built.  Instagram states the initiative is targeting “inauthentic activity” from third-party apps designed to boost popularity and audience on the platform.  “This type of behavior is bad for the community, and third-party apps that generate inauthentic likes, follows and comments violate our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use,” the blog post reads. “Today’s update is just another step in keeping Instagram a vibrant community where people connect and share in authentic ways.”

According to businessinsider.com, currently, third-party apps are often used by influencers and brands who are trying to get more followers and boost their popularity. Even though they’re not “real,”, users can pay for these apps to generate an abundance of activity for their accounts and hopefully increase their legitimate audience.  But now, Instagram states that accounts identified as users of such third-party apps will receive messages from the company notifying them that their fake activity has been removed.  Instagram will also require such accounts to change their passwords, since third-party apps are given access to users’ passwords and sensitive account info when they pay for these services.  Ouch.

Instagram has attempted to fight such actions of third-party services in the past. Back in August, the Facebook-owned company introduced an “About This Account” feature in an effort to help users evaluate the authenticity of other accounts themselves. Instagram also shut down a popular third-party app last year called Instagress entirely.  But numerous audience-boosting providers such as Archie, InstarocketProX and Boostio are still booming.

Looks like Instagram is aiming to take a bite out of the “fake follower” business.

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