How to Remove Fake Followers on Instagram

If your Instagram following looks great on paper but your engagement tells a different story, fake followers might be to blame.

Bot accounts and fake profiles don’t just pad your numbers. They drag down your reach, skew your analytics, and can even damage your brand’s credibility. In some cases, having too many can even get your account flagged, making it harder for real users to see your content.

If you suspect your account is bloated with bots or low-quality followers, it’s worth cleaning house.

This guide shows you how to spot fake followers, when it’s a good idea to remove them, and how to remove them the right way.

Why fake followers are a real problem

At first glance, fake followers seem harmless, just extra numbers on your profile. But if you're using Instagram to grow a business, build a personal brand, or attract partnerships, those ghost accounts are quietly sabotaging your success.

They dilute your engagement rate, distort your performance metrics, and make it harder for the algorithm to match your content with the right audience.

Worst case? They raise red flags with Instagram and potential collaborators alike.

How fake followers damage your account

Fake followers don’t engage. That means your posts get fewer likes, shares, comments, and saves—which tells Instagram your content isn’t worth promoting.

As a result:

• Your reach drops
• Your posts get buried in the feed
• Your account loses visibility with real people

For brands and influencers, a low engagement-to-followers ratio also kills credibility. It's easy for advertisers and partners to spot inflated follower counts with low engagement. It sends a message that your audience isn’t real, and your influence isn’t either.

For instance, this account has almost 100k followers, but only gets 50-200 likes and a few hundred to a thousand views on all of their posts.

If they had a real following of that size, their numbers would be about 10x that.

This is something we were able to spot within 5 seconds of landing on their profile, which means others notice it too.

What counts as a fake follower?

A fake follower can take three different forms:

• Bot accounts: Automatically generated profiles that follow hundreds of accounts but post little (if anything).
• Inactive users: Real people who haven’t logged in for months or years.
• Purchased followers: Accounts gained through sketchy follower services.

Not all fake followers are malicious, but if they’re not engaging, they’re not helping your growth.

Signs you might have fake followers

There are a few telltale signs that a substantial portion of your follower base is fake:

• A sudden spike in followers without a clear cause
• Accounts that have no profile photo, no posts, and/or strange usernames
• Users following 1,000s of other accounts, who have very few followers
• Follower lists full of people who don’t match your target audience
• Low engagement (likes, comments, shares) compared to your follower count
• High amounts of contextually irrelevant or spammy comments

One widely recognized benchmark you can use is the 7-12% Rule, which says that genuine IG profiles have around 7-12% of their follower base engaged via likes and comments. If engagement is below that (like our example above), chances are good they've got fake followers.

A tip from our Instagram pros: If you're evaluating an influencer or brand to partner with, another good sign to look for is whether they're followed by "fan buying" or "follower growth" services. If you see that along with one or more of the signs above, it all but confirms their actions.

How to identify fake followers

Before you can remove fake followers, you need to know who they are. The good news? You don’t need expensive tools to start spotting them. A combination of manual review and built-in Instagram analytics can go a long way.
Manual spot check

Start by scanning your follower list. Look for accounts with these red flags:

• No profile photo
• Gibberish or spammy usernames (e.g., @user9348572)
• No posts or only one or two low-quality posts
• Following thousands of accounts but barely any followers
• Generic or irrelevant bios

If you spot several accounts that fit this profile, there’s a good chance they’re bots or inactive followers. You don’t have to review every follower, but sampling your list (especially if you’ve had a recent spike) can reveal a lot.

Using that previous business as an example, scrolling their follower list reveals a few potential fake accounts.

Now, let's check on one of these users.

The account is private, so we can't look at their followers or do anything further. But the fact they're following so many accounts but don't have any posts is quite the red flag.

Using Instagram Insights

If you have a business or creator account, Instagram gives you access to Insights, which offers more data about your audience.

Start by navigating to the Professional dashboard on your profile page, right underneath your bio.

For example, you'll know where the majority of your followers are based.

Here’s what to keep an eye out for:

• Audience location: Are your followers mostly from countries where you do business or create content? If not, something might be off.
• Age and gender distribution: A balanced, logical distribution is a good sign. Extreme skews suggest fake followers.
• Engagement rate: Compare likes, comments, and shares to your total followers. If engagement is low (typically under 1%), fake or inactive followers could be dragging you down.

This data can’t show you every fake account, but it’s a smart way to spot suspicious patterns, especially after giveaways or shoutouts that might've drawn bots.

Third-party tools for fake follower detection

If you want a faster, more scalable way to find fake followers, third-party platforms analyze your audience data, flag suspicious accounts, and give you deeper insights than Instagram alone. They’re particularly useful for large accounts and brands that rely on Instagram for marketing, partnerships, or sales.

Tool Name	What It Does	Best For...	Pricing
Creator Hero	Free fake follower checker that analyzes follower authenticity using AI	Influencers and marketers who want quick, no-login fake follower analysis	Free
SpamGuard	Identifies and removes fake, ghost, and spam followers automatically with continuous protection	Individual users or brands wanting set-it-and-forget-it fake follower cleanup	$47/month (standard) $28.20/month (6-month plan) $54.05/month (premium)
Ghost Follower App	Uses 12 customizable filters to detect and remove inactive or low-quality followers (ghosts)	Creators and influencers with specific audience quality control needs	€47 (≤50k followers) €97 (≤250k) €297 (>250k) – one-time payments

Let's take a look at each of these tools more in-depth.

Creator Hero

Creator Hero is an AI-powered platform designed to help Instagram influencers, brands, and content creators detect fake followers on Instagram (and other social platforms). It's paid, but it also offers a free, no-signup-required Instagram Fake Follower Checker that lets you check any account's ratio of real to fake followers in seconds.

With an account, it also gives you an Authenticity Score, plus insights into the number of real followers an account has vs. influencers, suspicious accounts, and mass followers. This makes it the perfect solution if your main goal is to vet creators or brands for a partnership or sponsorship opportunity.

Or, you can type in your own profile for quick confirmation on the amount of fake followers you have.

Pricing:

• Free: Access to the Instagram Fake Follower Checker and basic analytics.
• Pro ($19/month): Includes enhanced brand visibility, better customization options, and more in-depth audience insights.
• Premium ($65/month): Offers all Pro features plus a dedicated talent manager, priority access to brand partnerships, and the ability to add team members.

SpamGuard

SpamGuard is a specialized tool designed to help Instagram users identify and remove their own fake followers, bots, and spam accounts. It offers both detection and automated cleanup features, and you can create a whitelist to prevent important or genuine followers from being removed during the cleanup process.

You can access the platform via both web and mobile devices, and it's cloud-based, so there's no download or installation required. Since it offers auto-cleanup features, it's the better choice if you're trying to spot fake followers for your own profile (or your company's) and remove them yourself.

Pricing:

• Monthly (from $47/month): Includes three analyses per month and standard algorithms for detecting bots and threats.
• Six months(from $28.20/month, billed as a one-time payment): Offers the same features as the monthly plan but at a discounted rate.
• Premium (from $54.05/month): Includes all features from the standard plans, plus a personal manager, extended anti-block warranty, unlimited analyses, and improved detection algorithms.

Ghost Follower App

Ghost Follower App is an AI-driven platform designed to help Instagram users identify and mass-remove inactive followers (commonly referred to as "ghost followers"). It offers 12 adjustable filters, including criteria like profile picture presence, bio completeness, follower-to-following ratio, and language preferences.

This is great if you aren't skeptical of bot activity, but see signs that a decent chunk of your followers are not engaging the way they should.

Pricing:

• Micro Influencer: €47 for accounts with up to 50,000 followers.
• Macro Influencer: €97 for accounts with up to 250,000 followers.
• Global Influencer: €297 for accounts with over 250,000 followers.

How to manually remove Instagram followers (step-by-step process)

Here’s how to remove fake followers directly from your account:

1. Go to your profile. Tap your profile icon in the bottom right of the Instagram app.

2. Tap 'Followers.' This opens your full follower list.

3. Find the account you want to remove. You can scroll or use the search bar if you already know who you’re targeting.

4. Tap the three-dot icon next to their name. On mobile, this appears to the right of each follower.#

5. Select 'Remove follower.' Instagram won’t notify the user, and they’ll quietly disappear from your follower list.

Repeat the process as needed. It takes time, but it’s the most precise way to clean your account without risking platform violations.

Blocking instead of removing: when and why?

In most cases, removing a follower is enough. But sometimes, blocking is the better move if an account feels spammy, threatening, or keeps coming back.

When you block someone on Instagram:

• They can’t see your posts or stories.
• They can’t comment, like, or message you.
• They can't look up your Instagram profile.
• They’re automatically unfollowed.

When to block instead of just removing:

• The account is a bot that keeps re-following.
• They're posting spam or harmful content in your comments or DMs.
• You’re being harassed, targeted, or threatened.
• You want to prevent any and all future interaction, period.

To block a follower:

• Go to their profile.
• Tap those same three dots in the top right.
• Select “Block” and confirm.

A tip from our Instagram pros: Go in chronological order, starting with your newest followers. Chances are, you noticed something's off because of a recent spike. This'll show you that whole batch of new followers in the same area of the follower list.

Use automation cautiously.

There are tools and services that promise to detect and remove fake followers automatically. While these can save time for accounts with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers, they come with some serious caveats.

On the bright side, they offer bulk-removal features. And advanced filters can help flag patterns you’d miss manually.
But...

• Many of these tools violate Instagram’s Terms of Service.
• Your account could get rate-limited or even suspended.
• You lose control — legitimate followers could get removed by mistake.
• Privacy concerns: some tools require full login access.

If you decide to go this route, choose tools that work with the Instagram API or rely on manual exports rather than direct access to your account. The tools we've mentioned above are all solid picks. The free apps you see on Google Play or the App Store are usually sketchy.

What to do after removing fake followers

Once you've cleaned out fake or inactive followers, your account might look a little leaner, but that’s actually a good thing. This is the point where quality starts to outweigh quantity. With a more authentic audience, your content has a better chance of reaching the people who actually care.

Expect a drop in your follower count.

Don't panic if your follower count takes a noticeable dip. It’s normal.

Here’s what’s happening:

• Your engagement rate will improve (likes, comments, saves per follower)
• The Instagram algorithm will reward you for having real interactions
• Brands and partners will see a more accurate picture of your influence

Think of it as trimming dead weight: what you lose in vanity metrics, you gain in trust and performance.

Clean up your following, too.

While most people focus on who follows them, it can also help to review who you’re following. A bloated following list filled with inactive or irrelevant accounts can also impact how Instagram interprets your activity.

Consider unfollowing:

• Accounts that haven’t posted in over a year
• Pages you followed just to enter giveaways
• Bots or low-quality pages
• Accounts that no longer align with your brand or interests

For instance, GoPro only follows action sports athletes, adventure accounts, photographers, related brands like Red Bull, and the company's sister accounts.

This is purely optional, but a more curated following list signals to Instagram that you’re active, intentional, and engaged with real users in a specific niche.

How to prevent fake followers in the future

Removing fake followers is one thing. Keeping them from coming back is a whole other. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps you can take to protect your account from being flooded with bots or low-quality followers again.

Stop buying followers and likes.

The first one should be obvious: don't use follower-buying services. They almost always use bot accounts and click farms to inflate your numbers, which leads to:

• Low engagement
• Spammy comments
• Damaged trust with your audience and partners
• Potential penalties from Instagram

Even if it’s tempting for social proof, fake growth doesn't help you build an audience that'll actually buy from you. Organic followers gained through real content and interaction are the only ones who deliver meaningful long-term value.

Temporarily switch to a private account (if needed).

If you’re dealing with a wave of fake followers or bot attacks (which is possible, say, if a competitor is trying to sabotage your account), switching to a private account even for a few days can act as a filter.

When you go private, it:

• Stops new accounts from following you without approval
• Gives you time to clean up your audience
• Prevents bots from easily targeting your profile

It’s not a permanent fix, but it can be a helpful short-term shield.

To do this:

• Go to Settings > Account privacy.
• Toggle on “Private account.”
• Approve follow requests manually while you assess.

Use Instagram’s settings to restrict spam.

Instagram has built-in tools to help you manage who interacts with your account. Use them.

Under the 'How others can interact with you' section, here's what to enable:

Comment and message filters block specific keywords or phrases bots and spam accounts frequently use.

Restricted accounts lets you quietly limit someone’s interaction with your page without fully blocking them.

Limit interactions from recent followers and people you don't follow back.

Hide story replies from people you don’t follow.

These settings don’t catch everything, but they create friction for fake accounts trying to engage with your content.

Best tools to monitor follower quality

To monitor follower quality on an ongoing basis, you're going to want to use a specialized tool. The three best ones we've seen are:

• HypeAuditor
• SocialBlade
• Modash

Let's take a closer look at each one.

HypeAuditor

HypeAuditor is an all-in-one AI-powered influencer marketing platform that also offers a free Instagram audit tool to verify a creator's or brand's audience authenticity. Its proprietary Audience Quality Score (AQS) evaluates the overall quality of an influencer's audience on a scale from 1 to 100.

The AQS considers factors like the likes-to-followers ratio, follower-to-following ratio, and comment authenticity. Since it's also got influencer management tools (including outreach, contracting, payment, and campaign tracking), it's best for agencies that need an end-to-end solution and want to fit fake follower checks into their workflow.

HypeAuditor pricing

HypeAuditor operates on a custom pricing model, with plans typically starting at $399 per month. The exact pricing depends on the features and services you select.

Social Blade

Social Blade is a widely used analytics platform that tracks user statistics across various social media platforms, including Instagram. While it doesn't specifically detect fake followers, it offers valuable insights that can help identify suspicious account activities.

With Social Blade, you can stay on top of daily follower gains and losses to identify unusual spikes or drops. You can also analyze average likes, comments, and engagement rates to assess the authenticity of audience interactions. And you'll get historical data to observe long-term trends in follower growth and engagement.

Social Blade pricing

Social Blade offers a free version and four paid pricing tiers:

• Free: Casual users interested in basic analytics.
• Bronze ($4.50/month): Ad-free experience with a modest increase in data access and favorites.
• Silver ($12.50/month): For content creators and small businesses that need more detailed analytics, additional favorites, and access to weekly and daily charts.
• Gold ($50/month): For agencies and businesses that need extensive data history, a higher number of favorites, and additional API credits.
• Platinum ($120/month): For enterprises and scaled agencies that need the max amount of data access, favorites, and API credits.

Modash

Modash is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform designed to help brands discover, analyze, and manage influencer partnerships across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. With a database of 250M+ creators, it gives you the tools to track authenticity, including fake follower detection, engagement, and audience demographics, across dozens of accounts at once.

With this app, you can search and filter based on location, niche, demographics, and dozens of other influencer criteria. And you can monitor influencer campaigns by collecting and analyzing content, tracking performance metrics, and ensuring their compliance with ad disclosures.

Modash pricing

Modash offers three different paid pricing tiers:

• Essentials ($199/month): Includes access for up to 2 team members, analysis of 300 profiles, 150 email unlocks, tracking of 100 influencers, and unlimited content collection.
• Performance ($499/month): Offers access for up to 5 team members, analysis of 800 profiles, 400 email unlocks, tracking of 250 influencers, and additional features like downloadable content and alerts for missing disclosures.
• Enterprise (custom pricing): Tailored for brands with advanced requirements, offering higher limits, more user seats, single sign-on (SSO), custom domain links, and access to Modash Payments.

Will Instagram ban me if I remove too many followers?

Potentially. Not a full ban, but you could get temporarily blocked.

Instagram has daily action limits to prevent spammy behavior. If you remove too many followers in a short amount of time, the system might flag your account and hit you with an Action Block. That means you won’t be able to follow, unfollow, like, or comment for a set period (usually 24–72 hours).

Why does this happen? Instagram can’t always tell if you’re cleaning up fake followers or doing the follow-then-unfollow trick to game the algorithm. So it errs on the side of caution and slows you down.

To avoid getting flagged:

• Spread your removals out over several days.
• Only remove around 100-200 per day.
• Avoid using third-party tools that promise mass actions.
• Don’t pair follower removals with lots of other activity (like bulk commenting or liking).

Can I remove all fake followers in one go?

There is a way to remove all your potential spam accounts at once with Instagram's native features, but only if they've already been flagged as potential spam.

If that's the case, you can batch delete them by clicking "Delete all requests"

For the other accounts though, you'll have to go through one by one and get them out.

What’s the ideal follower-to-engagement ratio?

A healthy engagement rate on Instagram typically falls between 1% and 5%, depending on your follower count.

Here’s a general breakdown:

• Under 10K followers: 3–6%+ is great.
• 10K–100K followers: 1.5–3% is strong.
• 100K+ followers: 1–2% is solid.

That means if you have 10,000 followers, you should be averaging at least 100–500 engagements per post (likes, comments, shares, and saves combined).

Anything consistently below 1% might be a red flag — either your audience isn’t engaged, or you’ve got fake or inactive followers dragging your numbers down.

How often should I audit my followers?

A good rule of thumb is to audit your followers every 3 to 6 months, closer to the 3-month end if you're using Instagram for business, brand deals, or marketing campaigns.

And here’s when you definitely want to do a follower audit:

• After running a giveaway or promo (which often attract bots)
• When you notice a drop in engagement
• Before pitching yourself to brands or sponsors
• After a sudden spike in followers that doesn’t align with your recent content

Are apps that promise to remove fakes safe?

Yes — with a BIG asterisk.

Apps that use Instagram’s official API and don’t require your login credentials can be safe for analyzing your follower base. But when it comes to automated actions (like removing followers on your behalf), that’s where things get risky.

Instagram’s Terms of Service strictly prohibit automation that mimics human activity, and that includes bulk unfollowing and auto-removal. Using those features can trigger action blocks, or worse, get your account restricted or banned.

Play it safe:

• Use approved tools for detection only.
• Do the removal manually to stay compliant.
• Never give full login access to unverified apps.

Final thoughts

Fake followers might boost your numbers, but they do nothing for your growth or sales. In fact, they do the opposite: they destroy your reach, credibility, and performance with Instagram’s algorithm.

Cleaning them out takes a little effort, but it’s worth it. A leaner, more engaged audience will always outperform a bloated, inactive one.

If you’re tired of guessing or don’t have the time to manage it all yourself, we can help by growing you an authentic, engaged following without shortcuts, bots, or inflated numbers.