Social media influencers took to Twitter Tuesday night to express their shock.
anyone else lose hella followers on IG at once? I lost 32k in seconds… @instagram what’s up with that???
— Princeton Perez (@theoneprinceton) February 13, 2019
What is going on with Instagram? People are saying I have 3.6 million followers, and some are saying 3.8… And I’m loosing followers. WHAT IS GOING ON
— Skai Jackson ♡ (@skaijackson) February 13, 2019
why did I just lose over half a million followers @instagram wyd sis
— James Charles (@jamescharles) February 13, 2019
Some suspected a “purge” of spam or bot Instagram accounts.
We're noticing @instagram could be running a purge, anyone lost followers?
— Social Blade (@SocialBlade) February 13, 2019
The social media network released a statement acknowledging there was a problem Wednesday morning and they’re working to fix it.
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
In November, Instagram said it would “begin removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to boost their popularity.”