Multiple Instagram app users logged in last night (February 12, 2019) to discover their following had declined noticeable. The loss of followers appeared to be relative to account size with beauty influencer James Charles, who’s count is over 14 million, claiming on Twitter last night he had lost 500,000 followers.
While Instagram in November 2018 announced it had a goal of deleting fake accounts and interactions, it appears last night’s wipe out was an error. The company weighed in this morning on Twitter and stated it was aware that an issue had arisen causing follower counts to decline and was working to resolve it.
Based on our own account, as of 10:00 AM EST today, it appears Instagram has restored all removed followers. Phew!
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
We’re aware..
why did I just lose over half a million followers @instagram wyd sis
— James Charles (@jamescharles) February 13, 2019
Half a million followers