In a matter of minutes users lose hundreds of followers and followed accounts
According to network security and ethical hacking specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security, Instagram has confirmed that some users are losing a considerable number of followers due to a platform error. In addition to the loss of followers, the error also causes the accounts followed by users to decrease in some cases.
Some users just noticed the error and began to complain: “According to Instagram, I lose 4k followers in and stopped following 100 people in a matter of minutes. What’s going on?” posted the user Stephanie Duran in her Twitter account.
Steve Bartlett, CEO of the world’s largest digital marketing agency, published in his Twitter account: “Last night, Instagram eliminated inactive or bot accounts from all accounts on the platform. I woke up with messages from hundreds of influencers claiming that they had lost millions of followers while they slept”.
The company claims that it is aware of the incident and its network security teams are working on a solution: “We are aware of the problem that is causing a change in the numbers of followers of some accounts. We are working to resolve it as soon as possible”.
Several hours after the first statement, Instagram published an update stating that the problem would be resolved around noon on Thursday, February 14; this was the last update the social network published about the incident.
Network security specialists believe that this could be part of the campaign to eliminate fake, inactive or spam accounts that Instagram had announced since last year, although this has not been confirmed or denied by the company. On the other hand, some consider that if the problem were related to the elimination of fake followers, Instagram would have confirmed this assumption.
More updates are still expected from the Facebook-owned social network.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
