Celebrities Have an Alarming Amount of Fake Followers, Report Finds A recent analysis by the Institute of Contemporary
Music Performance (ICMP) has found that Instagram
and Twitter are being overrun by bots. These bots are responsible for boosting
the follower count of celebrities such as BTS,
Kourtney Kardashian and Taylor Swift by millions. The estimated number of fake accounts for
each celebrity was found by running their
followers lists through authentication programs. Ellen Degeneres is at the top of the list, with
the ICMP estimating that over 30 million of
her Instagram followers are fake accounts. Katy Perry has the second most number of fake
followers, with an estimated 53 percent of her
83.6 million Instagram followers found to be bots. While bots that spread viruses account for more than
28 percent of the total bots currently lurking the web, these fake accounts could also be the result
of account boosting tactics that are used by
celebrities to increase their online value.