Instagram is determined to eradicate bots that boost engagement on its platform. Instagram boasted that it would delete all “likes”, followers, and fake comments generated from third-party services. According to Instagram, bots that produce fake activities violate the Community Guidelines and Instagram Terms of Use. To make it happen, Instagram will rely on machine-learning which will help identify which accounts use third-party applications to increase engagement, then delete “likes”, followers, and comments automatically. For accounts identified using third-party applications to increase popularity, they will be notified that fake “likes” have been deleted. They will also be asked to change the password if the third party application threatens account security.
Increasing influencer trends that are often measured by the number of followers and engagement, sometimes create an account using third-party applications to boost the popularity of uploads. The phenomenon called as “nano influencer” or people with at least 5,000 followers who try to make a profit try a free product under the pretext of advertising on Instagram through their accounts or in other words, endorsement.
Instagram also plans to take further action to handle fake activities on Instagram in the near future. These steps are naturally done by Instagram in order to maintain the integrity of its advertising business.
