People on Instagram are worried about a 'purge' after discovering they lost a ton of their followers, but it turns out it was caused by a bug

Instagram users are saying they’re suddenly losing massive amounts of followers.
The major loss of followershas reportedly affectedpopular accounts including Kylie Jenner, Selena Gomez, Cristiano Ronaldo, andYouTuber James Charles.
Instagramsaid in a statement posted to Twitterthat is was “aware” of a bug causing such issues, and was working to fix the problem “as quickly as possible.”
The drop in follower counts led some to speculate it was caused by the photo-sharing platform’s effortsto curb “inauthentic activity,”including the use of third-party apps to amass fake followers.

A bug is causing some Instagram users to see their follower counts drop by thousands, and for some, even by millions.

Instagram users started to notice the major changes to their accounts’ follower counts on Tuesday night. Instagram respondedin a statement, posted to Twitter, saying it was “aware of an issue” and trying to solve the problem “as quickly as possible.”

Prominent users liked YouTuberJames Charlesand actorDon Benjaminwrote on Twitter late Tuesday night that they had seen their follower counts drop by hundreds of thousands. The Instagram-tracking page on Down Detector, a website that monitors website issues,has been flooded with commentsfrom Instagram users reporting drastic drops in followers.

Social media consultant Matt Navarrahas been keeping track ofthe “popular accounts” affected.This lists some userswho have apparently lost more than a million followers, including Kylie Jenner, Cristiano Ronaldo, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez.

The sudden follower drops ledmany to speculateit was due to Instagram’scrackdown on “inauthentic behavior”across the platform. The company said back in Novemberit would be taking stepsto target accounts using third-party apps and bots to boost their popularity through faked likes and followers.

Meanwhile, Instagram has denied any sort of “follower purge” taking place, and has blamed the sudden change in followers on a bug.