On Monday, November 19 social media platform Instagram had just announced that they will be purging the platform of the inauthentic likes, follows, and comments created through third-party applications.
Instagram says that a new machine learning tool is now identifying accounts that used third-party apps to artificially boost their follower count as well as posting interactions. The inauthentic activity, Instagram says, will then be removed from the account. Since giving out the username and password to these types of apps can pose security risks, Instagram is also asking these users to go through a password reset.
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. With the new platform update, Instagram will now have the ability to recognize which accounts are using such apps and which followers and interactions were generated from that app. Accounts we identify using these services will receive an in-app message alerting them that Instagram has removed the inauthentic traffic, alongside a prompt to secure their account by changing their password.
“Every day people come to Instagram to have real experiences, including genuine interactions. It is our responsibility to ensure these experiences aren’t disrupted by inauthentic activity. Starting today, we will begin removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to boost their popularity.” Instagram says in a blog post.
Instagram isn’t done with the fakes purge either the company calls today’s announcement “just another step.” Instagram says additional updates will be rolling out over the next few weeks that also focus on “tackling inauthentic activity.”
Although Instagram has removed fake accounts in a great purge once before, it hasn’t taken action against fake likes before, and it promises more measures against fraudulent activity in the coming weeks.
