Instagram has announced they will crack down on fake likes, comments and followers, which artificially bost popularity of profiles on their platform, CNN reported.
Many users signed up for services that boost popularity through use of bots that leave comments and like posts on real Instagram accounts, often for a fee. These services were often used by influencers and online retailers. Now these users will receive a warning from Instagram and will have to change their passwords (since they had to share it with fake profiles). In addition, all the false comments and likes, as well as entire posts, will be removed.
„We have created tools that will help us identify profiles that use these services and will remove fraudulent activities. Such behavior is bad for the community and violate the terms and conditions for using our platform,“ Instagram commented.
The move comes as social media sites, including Instagram’s parent company Facebook, face increasing criticism over the presence of trolls, fake news and misinformation on their platforms. Earlier this year, Twitter removed tens of millions of profiles due to “suspicious activities”.
In addition, Instagram earlier this year introduced machine learning tool that can proactively detect bullying in photos and captions, which are then sent for review by human employees. This summer the company also announced they would be introducing tools that recognize who is actually behind the profiles of some celebrities, and will remove fake profiles
