Is this the purge? Instagram users lose thousands of followers thanks to ‘issue’

On Wednesday, a slew of Instagram users took to other social networks to complain about their dwindling follower numbers.

But it seems that people aren’t actually smashing that unfollow button en masse. Instead, Instagram acknowledged that there’s an issue with the platform.

“We’re aware of an issue that is causing a change in account follower numbers for some people right now. We’re working to resolve this as quickly as possible,” it tweeted from its official account.

We’re aware of an issue that is causing a change in account follower numbers for some people right now. We’re working to resolve this as quickly as possible.

— Instagram (@instagram) February 13, 2019

The company failed to elaborate the nature of the “issue” but didn’t explicitly suggest it was a purge of fake or bot accounts as many online are suggesting.

The biggest losers

According to Instagram analytics service IGBlade, Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez both lost more than 2.3-million followers.

Other celebs’ accounts, like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, were unaffected.

In November 2018, Instagram announced that it will begin removing fake accounts, likes and comments from its platform.

Feature image: Memeburn