Users in tears after 'Instagram rapture' deletes millions of followers
The so-called “Instagram rapture,” which ended in millions of fake accounts being wiped out, has divided Internet users, with some praising the effort to crack down on spam, while others were “in mourning” over the loss of millions of followers overnight.
One ordinary user, who calls himself “chiragchirag78” lost 99.99
percent of his flock (3.6 million followers) on Friday.
Instagram's own account on the site lost 18.9 million followers
overnight.
Meanwhile, according to figures assembled by developer Zach Allia, the biggest celebrity victim was rapper Akon, who lost more than half his followers. Justin Bieber's account went down by 3.5 million, Kim Kardashian 1.3 million and Beyonce 832,000 followers.
@zachallia any tips on getting this data? I wanna do the same for the top accounts of my country
— Bolivar Baez Grullon (@bolivar) December 19, 2014
"In the instagram rapture rapper Akon reportedly lost 56% of his followers" IM SO LONELEYYY MR. LONELEYYY
— Phlegyas (@KnifeToTheSky) December 21, 2014
The Facebook-owned app had warned users about the upcoming
crackdown in a blog earlier this month.
"We've been deactivating spammy accounts from Instagram on an
ongoing basis to improve your experience," Instagram
co-founder Kevin Systrom said.
"As part of this effort, we will be deleting these accounts forever, so they will no longer be included in follower counts. This means that some of you will see a change in your follower count," he added.
A photo posted by www.highenddetail.com (@highenddetail) on Dec 12, 2014 at 9:38pm PST
God didnt tell us that rapture will start from instagram oh, where have my followers gone to??
— Hybrid † (@TheRedSign) December 18, 2014
The follow-up to the purge has been mixed, with some even thanking Instagram for getting rid of dead accounts which take up server space, and others, like Rapper Mase who deleted his account entirely after losing 1.5 million followers, in despair.
@instagram bring my followers back
A video posted by Willie D (@theycallmebigwillie) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:57pm PST
I’m actually in tears at this Instagram rapture exposing all of you who bought your followers.
— Bajo a Boca (@Sanniel) December 18, 2014
I love how @instagram getting rid of fake, paid followers is being called the Instagram Rapture
— Stephen Gates (@sdgates) December 18, 2014
Thank you guys for #InstagramRapture & getting rid of spam accounts. I want others to follow their best practices http://t.co/BTJTnuyscw
— Om Malik (@om) December 19, 2014
A photo posted by Mr. A-List (@mralistent) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:44pm PST
