Having a certain amount of suspicious accounts on Instagram is cause for concern, especially for celebrities with large followings. Almost all accounts will have at least a small percentage of followers that are, or at least seem, inauthentic.
That said, a small number of suspicious accounts isn’t always an indicator that a celebrity bought that part of their following. There are many reasons why suspicious accounts could be following someone. For one, accounts might be flagged as suspicious because they’ve been inactive for a long time.
Spotting fake followers has never been an exact science, but numbers can give estimates, and we used those estimates to give you a rough idea of who has the most suspicious accounts in their follower list.
Key Takeaways
During our research, we used the database of social media tool HypeAuditor to identify accounts with the highest percentage and the highest number of suspicious followers. This enabled us to make several top 10 rankings:
- Top 10 overall celebrities with most suspicious followers
- Top 10 brands with the most suspicious followers
- Top 10 actors with the most suspicious followers
- Top 10 music artists with the most suspicious followers
- Top 10 beauty influencers with the most suspicious followers
- Top 10 fashion influencers with the most suspicious followers
- Top 10 lifestyle influencers with the most suspicious followers
- Top 10 athletes & fitness influencers with the most suspicious followers
Here’s what caught our eye during this research:
- Kylie Jenner has the highest number of suspicious accounts following her page on Instagram, at 106.2 million.
- The highest percentage of suspicious followers out of all top 10s belongs to lifestyle influencer Vanessa Lopes, who has 69% seemingly inauthentic followers.
- Out of all top 10s, Ellen DeGeneres in the actor category has the lowest percentage of suspicious followers at 16.6%.
- A high number of suspicious accounts does not necessarily equal a high percentage of suspicious followers.
- Amongst music artists, we found the highest percentage of suspicious followers, at an average of 60%.
- When it comes to the highest absolute number of suspicious followers, the beauty influencer category takes the lead.
Suspicious accounts are flagged by HypeAuditor using AI machine learning. There are different reasons an account might be flagged as suspicious. An account might, for example, have lots of followers and be following a lot of users without actually posting anything themselves. Other reasons include an account being inactive for a long period of time and an unbalanced followers/following ratio.
For our research we created two kinds of top 10s:
- Accounts with the highest percentage of suspicious followers, referring to the percentage of the total followers that are flagged as suspicious.
- Accounts with the highest number of suspicious followers, which refers to the total number of suspicious followers, regardless of what percentage of total followers number that makes up.
We studied different kinds of celebrity accounts. First of all, we looked at the biggest celebrities (with the highest number of followers) on Instagram. Then we looked at different sectors: brands, actors, musicians, beauty influencers, fashion influencers, lifestyle influencers, and athletes and fitness influencers. Curious whose followers are the most suspicious? Check out our top 10s below.
Top 10 Celebrities with the Most Suspicious Followers
When it comes to A-listers, we looked at all the accounts with 20 million or more followers. These are the Instagram accounts that most of us are familiar with, which makes it even more interesting to see who made the cut!
For this first top 10, we look at celebrity accounts across different professions that have more than 20 million followers. That means that you’ll find some of these celebrities in other categories as well.
We list two top 10s here: a top 10 with the highest absolute number of inauthentic followers, and a top 10 with the lowest absolute number of inauthentic followers. It’s worth noting that all of the accounts in the latter category, namely celebrities with the lowest number of suspicious followers, have over 20 million followers, adding to their authenticity, as fake followers percentages are low. Interesting fact: you’ll find more Bollywood than Hollywood there!
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
Ever since buying followers became a thing, there has been reason to doubt whether a celebrity with millions of followers dabbled in that. Ever wondered whether your favorite celebrity has a high percentage of suspicious followers on their Instagram?
The graph below shows the top 10 celebrities with the highest percentage of suspicious followers. (Spoiler alert: It’s not the Kardashians!)
Highest number of suspicious followers
With great power comes great responsibility. Similarly, any account with a high number of followers runs the risk of having many suspicious followers. The celebrities we have on this list have a following of well over 100 million. Consequently, the numbers of suspicious accounts that follow them are in the millions too, with one particular celebrity having over 100 million suspicious accounts following them.
Although we’ve already shown you the ten accounts with the highest number of suspicious followers, we also included them in the table below for easy comparison.
While the highest percentage list did not feature any Kardashians, a big part of the family is included in this one. In addition, this list has the account with the highest number of suspicious followers at 106.2 million, which makes up about 38% of Kylie Jenner’s total followers.
Top 10 Brands with the Most Suspicious Followers
As part of this study, we analyzed brand accounts as well. A lot of big names made it to the top of our list, including some football pages and huge clothing brands. Since these brands are popular around the world, it is quite shocking that their estimated number of suspicious accounts is well in the millions.
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
The average percentage of suspicious followers for this top 10 is 50%. In other words, these are some pretty popular names that have half of their following fall in the suspicious category.
Fox Sports Brasil takes the cake at 56% and at the bottom we have the well-known clothing company Pretty Little Thing, with their suspicious following at 46%.
Highest number of suspicious followers
While the brands above are pretty well known, the ones on this list beat them by far. Our number one brand with the highest number of suspicious followers, is none other than Instagram itself with 86 million of them. However, that number pales in comparison to their total number of followers, leaving their suspicious following at 19%.
The rest of this list is highly populated by football teams. Do you spot any of your faves?
Top 10 Actors with the Most Suspicious Followers
Recognition goes a long way in Hollywood, but many actors often resort to alternative methods to gain a larger following online.
There are quite a few A-list actors who don’t bother opening an Instagram account — we’re looking at you Johnny — but most of them do. Looking at actors from all around the world (with at least 5 million followers), we compiled a list of those that have the lowest percentage of authentic and highest number of inauthentic followers.
Some of these well-known names might come as a surprise!
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
Overall, the average percentage of suspicious followers for this top 10 is 53%. It’s worth noting that everyone on the list is above the 50% mark, making at least half of their following seemingly inauthentic. Meanwhile, the average number of suspicious followers is around five million.
Highest number of suspicious followers
While the average number of suspicious followers for this top 10 is around 26 million, which is relatively low compared to other categories, The Rock alone has 72.3 million. Although that number seems high, it’s worth noting that The Rock has over 275 million followers, so that is only around 26% of his total following.
Meanwhile, Vanessa Hudgens and Larissa Manoala are at the bottom of this top 10 with less than 20 million suspicious followers, which makes up around 40% of their total following.
Top 10 Music Artists with the Most Suspicious Followers
Nowadays, most music artists have Instagram accounts, which they frequently use to share and promote their projects. It’s a given that Instagram is a great tool for this, considering all the marketing options available. The question is, are these artists sharing their work with real people?
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
With Lil Durk leading this list and Solange Knowles right at the bottom, this top 10 definitely contains a few notable names. It shocked us to see that the top 10 for this list have more than half of their followers fall in the suspicious category!
This particular music artists’ top 10 is also the category with the highest average percentage of suspicious followers at 60%.
Highest number of suspicious followers
When we look at the total number of suspicious followers, you will see names that have definitely held Billboard’s No. 1 at some point. These record-breaking artists have millions of suspicious followers, which is interesting, to say the least. From pop to rap, many may find their favorite artist here.
Top 10 Beauty Influencers with the Most Suspicious Followers
The beauty community is often seen as the main source of drama on YouTube, but does this hold up on other social media platforms, like Instagram?
The data we pulled from HypeAuditor gave us the answer, and the names that came up might cause people to raise a few well-drawn eyebrows. Don’t believe us? See for yourself!
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
This list took us by surprise, as it contains some great beauty influencers. You’ll find people like Kim K’s makeup angel Makeup by Mario as well as one of our favorite YouTubers, Bretman Rock, here. Both influencers have over 40% of their followers fit the suspicious accounts criteria.
There’s another RnB-star-turned-beauty-guru who made this list. Check our graph below to find out who!
Highest number of suspicious followers
It’s safe to say that Riri wins the beauty influencers category as far as suspicious followers go. She made both lists and is the only one in our research to do that within a category.
Besides our beauty queen, the Jenners, a Kardashian, and even James Charles found their way on this list, with Kylie surpassing 100 million suspicious followers, as she did in our overall celebrity results.
Top 10 Fashion Influencers with the Most Suspicious Followers
Whether we talk about designers or influencers, some big names in the fashion community appear to have a lot of suspicious followers. In the case of fashion influencers, this could even be deemed problematic. After all, for many of them, their number of followers is directly related to how much they earn from their brand deals.
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
Fashion is a huge part of Instagram: these days, there are many fashion influencers making good money on the platform. Not only that, but many big fashion names use their Instagram accounts to promote their work and connect with their audience.
After analyzing 600 verified Instagram accounts related to fashion, we ended up with this top 10. Here are the fashion influencers who have the biggest chunk of their following consisting of suspicious users.
Highest number of suspicious followers
Out of our top 10s with the highest number of suspicious followers, fashion influencers have the highest percentage of suspicious followers, namely 38% on average. On our list, we have one of the highest-paid models of this moment, Gisele, with 32% of suspicious accounts following her.
Other than models, you’ll find Michael Kors at the very bottom of the list with 4.5 million suspicious followers, which comes down to 27% of his total following.
Top 10 Lifestyle Influencers with the Most Suspicious Followers
Lifestyle influencers are very prominent users of Instagram. These are the accounts that inspire their fans’ lifestyles — and make us feel inadequate on our bad days!
When it comes to these lifestyle Instagrammers, our top 10 of the highest percentage category has an average of 59% percent of suspicious followers and the top 10 of the highest number category 37%.
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
There are many who fit in the lifestyle influencer category, while also fitting into a number of other categories. Therefore, we only analyzed accounts primarily known as lifestyle influencers for this section.
See anybody familiar? We spot quite a few big names!
Highest number of suspicious followers
As we’re already used to by now, a big percentage of suspicious followers doesn’t actually mean the biggest number of suspicious followers. This isn’t any different for lifestyle influencers. While these names might be completely unfamiliar for some, these influencers have millions of fans worldwide. This top ten has an average of 37% of their followers flagged as suspicious, and an average of 25 million followers in total.
Top 10 Athletes & Fitness Influencers with the Most Suspicious Followers
While you’ve already seen an athlete or two in our celebrities list, there’s more where that came from. For our overview of suspicious followers of sports accounts, we decided to include fitness influencers as well.
We analyzed users who play football, basketball, water polo, hockey, do racing, fitness, and any other popular sport you can think of!
Highest percentage of suspicious followers
Starring in both the celebrity category and this one, David Luiz is right at the top of this top 10 with 54% of his following flagged as suspicious. You’ll find him, as well as our other nine sports fanatics with the highest percentage of suspicious followers, in the graph below!
Highest number of suspicious followers
Interestingly, when we look at the bare numbers of suspicious followers, our top 10 in the sports category is filled with superstar status football players. Even the famous Cristiano, who is second only to Instagram when it comes to his overall number of followers, made the list. It should be noted, however, that, compared to his total number of followers (300 million), having 41.9 million users flagged as suspicious relatively isn’t that much.
Another notable name is David Beckham, with 17.1 million suspicious followers — over ten million more than his wife in the fashion category.
Are “Suspicious Followers” the Same as Fake Followers?
You’ve probably noticed we keep talking about suspicious followers instead of just calling them “fake followers.” That is because we cannot be 100% certain that all of these suspicious accounts are in fact fake followers. The chance that these followers are fake is, however, very high.
Usually, these “fake” accounts:
- will not engage with any posted content.
- follow a suspiciously high number of other accounts.
- have suspicious activity on Instagram and other platforms.
In essence, accounts that do not behave “normally” on Instagram are often flagged as suspicious, with good reason.
For our estimates, we used the HypeAuditor tool, which uses machine learning algorithms to analyze 53 discrete patterns to identify fraudulent activity from such accounts. They also flag mass followers, which are accounts that follow more than 1,500 accounts and use the follow/unfollow method to get influencers to follow them back. According to HypeAuditor, accounts that do not fall in these categories are considered authentic followers.
Having a high number of followers on Instagram can come with an array of benefits, one of them being monetization through influencer marketing. This way, businesses will pay influencers to post ads with their product. Given that many businesses will set the price they pay based on the number of followers someone has, it is no surprise that there are influencers who turn to buying their following. The more, the merrier, right?
Well, no, not really. In recent years, a number of tools have been developed to check the authenticity of an influencer, and brands use those diligently when determining if they want to work with an influencer. Hypeauditor being one of those tools.
Keep in mind that even if an account has fake followers, it by no means implies the owner of that account is responsible for creating that fake following. There are large troll armies on the internet that are beyond an account holder’s control.
How Do Fake Followers Affect Your Safety?
Fake followers are annoying, as they give a skewed view of how social media accounts are doing in terms of popularity. Besides that, however, they can also be a threat to your online safety. There are three main reasons why fake accounts might be a threat:
- Cybercriminals have caught wind of influencers being interested in buying their following. This leads to them creating fake offers and stealing an influencer’s financial information, making this a very dangerous Instagram scam.
- Since Instagram has reinforced its rules and has many times deleted accounts that seem suspicious, a lot of these fake accounts will go to great lengths to seem authentic. That means, in order for them to not get flagged by Instagram, they will often steal data from real people to create fake accounts.
- Fake followers can be used to steer public opinion and spread fake news. The Russian government is notorious for using fake social media accounts to spread misinformation and disrupt western society.
This means that, even if you aren’t an influencer yourself and you don’t intend to buy followers, your information could still be at risk.
How to Stay Safe on Instagram
Since many fake Instagram accounts use personal information from existing users, it’s important to secure your Instagram and keep your data safe. That way you won’t see a fake version of yourself following celebrities just to up their follower count.
In order to keep your privacy intact, here are a few things you can do to keep your information safe on Instagram:
- Keep your account private so not everyone has access to your personal information and posts.
- Turn off your activity status to protect your privacy from your follower list.
- Turn off Instagram’s ability to reshare your story on other accounts so accounts that don’t follow you cannot access them.
- Take advantage of story controls: you can limit who has access to your stories and exclude people even from your follower list.
- Limit comments so you don’t receive comments from unwanted accounts.
- Use a VPN to create an extra layer of protection for your online data and location.
These precautions won’t just keep you safe from data theft, either: Instagram is a widely used social media platform that stores not just pictures of our favorite outfits, but also a lot of our personal information. This huge platform attracts billions of people, so there is reason to be wary of how your information is being handled and by who.
Methodology
In order to get our results for the estimated number of inauthentic Instagram accounts in this research, we used data from a tool called HypeAuditor.
Disclaimer: HypeAuditor does not actually scrape Instagram and does not have all Instagram accounts in its database. Due to this, our research is limited to the data that HypeAuditor does contain.
How HypeAuditor works
To create an estimate of fake followers, HypeAuditor uses percentages of:
- Real followers
- Influencer followers
- Suspicious accounts
- Mass followers
Real followers and influencer followers fall into the authentic following category. Meanwhile, mass followers and suspicious followers are deemed fake.
To calculate suspicious followers, they use machine learning to analyze 53 patterns and flag accounts with fraudulent-like activity. HypeAuditor claims that Instagram bots and people who use specific services for likes, comments, and follower purchases are identified as “Suspicious Accounts.”
As for mass followers, they look for accounts with over 1,500 followers, who frequently follow and unfollow accounts in order to gain more followers.
How we got our data for the highest percentage of suspicious followers
For the top ten celebrities, we searched for verified Instagram accounts with more than 20 million followers on HypeAuditor, and gathered different elements of data about them:
- A sample of 337 verified accounts
- Accounts’ Audience Quality Score (a metric used by HypeAuditor)
- Accounts’ number of followers
- Accounts’ number of authentic followers
- Accounts’ engagement rate
Using the number of quality followers and the total number of followers, we first extracted percentages for both quality and fake followers. Using those percentages, we then filtered fake followers from highest to lowest percentages of suspicious followers for each account to get the final top ten list.
For other categories, including actors, music artists, beauty influencers, fashion influencers, lifestyle influencers, athletes, and fitness influencers, we searched for verified Instagram accounts within a certain category that have more than five million followers.
This led us to lists for each category, with around 600 Instagram accounts each. We then sorted these lists using the same technique as for celebrities. This, in turn, gave us our top ten artists/influencers with the biggest number of fake followers within their category.
How we got our data for the highest number of suspicious followers
To get to accounts with the highest number of suspicious followers, we used the same data we used for accounts with the highest percentage of suspicious followers.
However, for this batch, we got the number of suspicious accounts by subtracting the number of authentic followers from the total number of followers (data provided by HypeAuditor). We then used that number to sort from highest (# of suspicious accounts) to lowest in order to get to our final top 10.
How we got our celebrities with the most authentic followers data
Using the same logic we used for getting our top 10s with the most inauthentic followers, we decided to compile a list for A-listers with the most authentic following.
To get both the lowest percentage of inauthentic followers and the lowest number of inauthentic followers top 10s, we used the same data used for accounts with the most inauthentic following.
The one thing we did differently is sorting:
- For celebrities with the lowest percentage of inauthentic followers, we sorted from lowest (percentage of inauthentic accounts) to highest in order to get our top 10.
- For celebrities with the lowest number of inauthentic followers, we also sorted from lowest (number of inauthentic accounts) to highest.
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