Influencers and brands who use bot apps to boost their popularity and increase audience growth may be in trouble, thanks to a new initiative Instagram announced Monday.
In a blog post, Instagram said it would start removing fake likes, follows, and comments using “machine learning tools” it had built. The initiative is targeting “inauthentic activity” from third-party apps designed to boost popularity and audience on the platform, Instagram says.
“This type of behavior is bad for the community, and third-party apps that generate inauthentic likes, follows and comments violate our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use,” the blog post says. “Today’s update is just another step in keeping Instagram a vibrant community where people connect and share in authentic ways.”
Third-party apps are often used by influencers and brands who are trying to get more followers and boost their popularity. Users can pay for these apps to generate an abundance of activity for their accounts and hopefully increase their audience.
Accounts that have been identified as users of such third-party apps will receive messages from Instagram that notify them their fake activity has been removed, Instagram said. Instagram will also require such accounts to change their passwords, since third-party apps are given access to users’ passwords and sensitive account info when they pay for these services.
Instagram shut down a popular third-party app last year called Instagress. However, numerous audience-boosting providers still exist, including Archie, InstarocketProX, and Boostio.