Instagram’s massive “Great Purge of 2026” has officially shaken up the social media world, and some of the platform’s biggest stars were hit the hardest.
Beginning on May 6, Instagram launched a sweeping cleanup to remove millions of bot, spam, and inactive accounts, in an effort to provide advertisers and creators with more accurate audience metrics.
The platform-wide crackdown reportedly wiped out fake followers in massive waves, with celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylie Jenner losing tens of millions of followers almost overnight.
