{"id":19542,"date":"2023-08-23T10:55:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/?p=19542"},"modified":"2026-05-25T01:46:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:46:51","slug":"ghost-followers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/ghost-followers","title":{"rendered":"Everything About Ghost Followers on Instagram (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class=\"su-box su-box-style-default\" id=\"\" style=\"border-color:#2006a0;border-radius:14px\"><div class=\"su-box-title\" style=\"background-color:#5339D3;color:#FFFFFF;border-top-left-radius:12px;border-top-right-radius:12px\">Key Takeaways<\/div><div class=\"su-box-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"border-bottom-left-radius:12px;border-bottom-right-radius:12px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class=\"sue-icon-text\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"min-height:30px;padding-left:30px;color:#000000\"><div class=\"sue-icon-text-icon\" style=\"color:#5339D3;font-size:20px;width:20px;height:20px\"><i class=\"sui sui-angle-double-right\" style=\"font-size:20px;color:#5339D3\"><\/i><\/div><div class=\"sue-icon-text-content su-u-trim\" style=\"color:#000000\">Ghost followers are <strong>inactive or fake followers<\/strong> who don\u2019t interact with your content<\/div><div style=\"clear:both;height:0\"><\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class=\"sue-icon-text\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"min-height:30px;padding-left:30px;color:#000000\"><div class=\"sue-icon-text-icon\" style=\"color:#5339D3;font-size:20px;width:20px;height:20px\"><i class=\"sui sui-angle-double-right\" style=\"font-size:20px;color:#5339D3\"><\/i><\/div><div class=\"sue-icon-text-content su-u-trim\" style=\"color:#000000\">They can hurt your <strong>engagement and content<\/strong> views<\/div><div style=\"clear:both;height:0\"><\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class=\"sue-icon-text\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"self\" style=\"min-height:30px;padding-left:30px;color:#000000\"><div class=\"sue-icon-text-icon\" style=\"color:#5339D3;font-size:20px;width:20px;height:20px\"><i class=\"sui sui-angle-double-right\" style=\"font-size:20px;color:#5339D3\"><\/i><\/div><div class=\"sue-icon-text-content su-u-trim\" style=\"color:#000000\">You can <strong>remove<\/strong> them manually or with automated tools\u00a0<\/div><div style=\"clear:both;height:0\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost followers on Instagram are a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">larger<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> problem than most account owners realize. Your profile is likely to get random followers \u2013 it&#8217;s natural and what you want \u2013 but not all of these accounts are your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ideal <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&#8217;s explore what a ghost follower is and how to identify them.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Ghost Followers?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost followers can be one of two things:<\/span><div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inactive accounts<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fake accounts<\/div><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These followers are classified as \u201cghosts\u201d because they don\u2019t engage with your posts. You won\u2019t find a ghost liking, sharing or commenting on your posts. It&#8217;s natural to have some ghost followers, and the larger your account, the more ghosts you can expect to have.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even the influencers that you follow and have a huge following have ghost followers. In fact, one study found that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbestechcouncil\/2022\/09\/09\/new-study-one-in-four-influencers-bought-fake-followers\/?sh=34e383516843\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">25%<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of influencers purchase followers \u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">many <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are bots<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifying ghost followers is easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">How To Identify<\/span> Ghost Followers on Instagram?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Open your Instagram app or go to your account on your browser and open your follower list.\u00a0 Randomly check a few accounts to look for signs that they\u2019re ghost followers who:<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> Follow a lot of accounts<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> Have very few followers<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> Post very infrequently or at all<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> Don\u2019t have a profile picture<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The account\u2019s profile may be filled out, empty or have a suspicious link in it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of these accounts may be real, but most of them are either bots or accounts that people or brands have abandoned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">What\u2019s Wrong with Having <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ghost Followers?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, you have a few random accounts that you consider \u201cghosts.\u201d What\u2019s the big deal? The account adds to your overall follower count, which is good, but they\u2019re hurting you more than they help you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. They Lower Your Engagement Rate<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engagement is the key to social media success. Imagine an account with 1 million followers that receives only 200 likes on a photo. You might think, \u201cWith a million followers, this is a valuable account,\u201d but you may find an account with 20,000 followers that receives 200 likes per photo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second account is far more valuable, especially to advertisers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engagement rates matter and are calculated with an easy equation of (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interactions \/ total followers) * 100<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5ddce;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#fff7e8;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\">\n<p><strong>Based on this Equation, We Find that the Account with:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1 million followers has a 0.02% engagement rate<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">20,000 followers has a 1% engagement rate<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engagement on the second account is much higher, leading to your followers trusting your advice and interacting with you more. Sponsoring a post on the second account will likely be more profitable and worthwhile than purchasing a post on the first account.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, engagement will also include comments on your post and will be a part of your total \u201cinteractions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. They Hurt Your Credibility<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost accounts to damage your credibility. Advertisers and followers don\u2019t want to be duped into following an account that has an inflated follower count from:<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bots<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buying followers<\/div><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When working with brands and landing sponsorships, ghost accounts will damage your credibility. Your followers and engagement are a selling point, and if 50% of your followers are ghosts and no one engages with your content, your credibility can be damaged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can try to remove fake followers and ghost accounts, but it\u2019s an uphill battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reader\u2019s Digest<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reports the following percentage of these celebrities&#8217; followers are fake:<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">28.6% of Paris Hilton<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">27.9% of Kourtney Kardashian<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">27.2% of Miley Cyrus<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">25.7% of Justin Bieber<\/div><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For these celebrities, around 1-in-4 of the accounts that follow them on Instagram are fake or ghost accounts. Brands, such as Nike, also have the same problem. Often, ghost accounts will follow other accounts with a large following to look real.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s not uncommon for people to follow Nike, which has 303 million followers, or Justin Bieber, who has 292 million followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since these accounts have tens or hundreds of millions of followers, their credibility will be hurt much less than someone with 100,000 followers and 30,000 of them are ghost accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On top of losing a bit of credibility, you risk your content <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not being seen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Your Content May Not Be Seen<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram\u2019s algorithm displays posts that users want to see based on posts they\u2019ve liked or commented on in the past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Posts that don\u2019t get much engagement won\u2019t be shown on the Explore page or in recommended posts. Instead, your content will appear in the feeds of ghost followers who won\u2019t even see, let alone like or comment on your posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lack of interaction with your content will make it harder to grow your following naturally because Instagram won\u2019t be showing content to others.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Ghost Followers Can Get Your Account Banned<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram is cracking down on fake followers, and they have closed down many third-party services that offer ghost followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a real risk that Instagram may ban your account because of ghost followers or if you purchase followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">How To Remove<\/span> Ghost Followers?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you\u2019ve identified your ghost followers, you can start taking steps to remove them. <a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/how-to-remove-fake-followers-on-instagram\">Removing these fake followers<\/a> will help you start growing a real following and improve engagement with your content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But how do you get rid of these \u201cghosts?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Remove Them Manually<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best method for getting rid of ghost followers is to do it manually. Go through your followers list, identify the ghosts, and remove them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have hundreds or thousands of followers, this can be a very time-consuming and tedious process. But it\u2019s also the least risky.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Use a Tool to Detect and Remove Them<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you don\u2019t have the time to remove ghost followers manually, you can use automated tools that allow you to:<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analyze your followers\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify the \u201cghosts\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-location-arrow\" style=\"color:#4D2BEE\"><\/i> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remove them<\/div><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some tools, like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sproutsocial.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sprout<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, will only identify your ghost followers. If you prefer the safer, manual removal method, you can use a tool like this to save you time when identifying the followers that you want to remove.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other tools will also remove the ghost followers for you automatically. While this tool can save you a lot of time, it\u2019s important to be cautious when using it. Removing followers en masse could potentially get your Instagram account banned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>4<span style=\"color: #5339d3;\"> Tips For Preventing<\/span> Ghost Followers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost followers can make it harder to grow your following and get your content seen by new potential followers. One of the best things you can do is prevent these followers in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are Four Tips For Preventing Ghost Followers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Don\u2019t Purchase Followers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best way to prevent ghost followers is not to purchase followers in the first place. It\u2019s tempting to buy followers, especially since they are often available at such affordable prices. However, it\u2019s important to remember that ghost followers only inflate your follower count and do little to help you improve engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You&#8217;re less likely to have ghost followers if you don\u2019t purchase them to begin with.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Don\u2019t Purchase Instagram Accounts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another way to prevent ghost followers is to avoid purchasing existing Instagram accounts. There are marketplaces online that allow you to purchase accounts that already have large followings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s also tempting to purchase accounts because they save you a lot of time and hard work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#e5ddce;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#fff7e8;border-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;border-radius:14px;-moz-border-radius:14px;-webkit-border-radius:14px;\">\n<p><strong>However, Buying Accounts is a Huge Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The practice is against Instagram\u2019s terms of service<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The account\u2019s followers are not likely to stick around<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>3. Don\u2019t Purchase Likes and Comments<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Purchasing likes and comments will not only increase your ghost followers, but it will also harm your engagement in the long run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you buy likes and comments, you get a short-term boost in engagement. However, this is an unsustainable practice, and those who were paid to engage with your posts won\u2019t engage with future posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Post High-Quality Content That Attracts Real Followers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to prevent ghost followers, focus on creating content that attracts <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">real <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">followers. High-quality content is a tried-and-true way to increase your following.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Post photos and videos that appeal to your followers. Be consistent, and interact with your followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you focus on creating the best content for your account, you will naturally grow your following.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Wrapping Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ghost followers can harm your credibility and lower engagement rates. Learning how to identify these followers is important. Taking steps to remove ghost followers and start building your following naturally will help you grow your Instagram account and avoid future ghost followers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ghost followers on Instagram may be killing your engagement. Discover how to get rid of ghost followers using two proven methods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":19662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instagram"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"John","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19542"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38300,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19542\/revisions\/38300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}