How many fake followers do Instagram's top celebrities and brands have

Have you ever wondered just how many of your favourite celebrities, brands, sports stars, and politicians’ followers are real or fake? TechRobot has conducted a study using the social media auditing tool Modash which estimates the amount of fake and real followers some of the most well-known celebrities and brands have, from Donald Trump to Nike to Dwayne Johnson.

With Instagram being a key social media platform for brand awareness, it’s a great place for a company, celebrity, or influencer to grow a following by posting content that’s interesting and engaging. However, since the release of various apps that allow you to check the authenticity of an Instagram user’s followers, this has raised an issue of the platform’s fake follower problem. Bots can easily manipulate an influencers’ follower figures—even without them knowing it.

With these apps being free and easily accessible, it’s easier and quicker than ever to analyse data from people’s Instagram accounts. The influencer industry is now worth upwards of $8 billion per year which means a lot of money could be at risk if Instagram follower figures are inaccurate.

To get a better understanding of how many of the most popular Instagrammers have genuine followers and how many have been unknowingly manipulated by fake followers or bots, TechRobot audited the top 10 accounts in the worlds of sport, music, film, politics, retail, and television. Using a tool that analyses engagement rate and profile content to estimate which followers might be fake, here is what they have found:

Paris Hilton is the Instagram Account with the most fake followers as bots inflate her follower count by 28.6%

NameFollowers (M)Fake Followers (%)Real Followers (%)Real Followers (M)Number of Fake Followers (M)Paris Hilton15.528.671.411.14.4Victoria's Secret69.928.571.550.619.3Kourtney Kardashian139.527.972.1100.638.9Katy Perry131.927.872.295.336.6Nike168.327.572.5122.046.4Kris Jenner42.327.572.530.711.6Gigi Hadid68.727.372.750.018.7Miley Cyrus142.127.272.8103.538.6Versace24.327.172.917.76.6Nicki Minaj153.227.073.0111.841.4Khloé Kardashian178.426.873.2130.647.8Demi Lovato113.126.873.282.830.3Taylor Swift173.926.773.3127.546.4Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum5.826.373.74.31.5Queen Rania Of Jordan6.426.273.84.71.7Calvin Klein21.426.273.815.85.6Jennifer Lopez171.326.173.9126.544.8Kim Kardashian245.826.173.9181.764.1Kylie Jenner260.725.874.2193.567.2Justin Bieber19025.774.3141.148.9

Paris Hilton is the celebrity with allegedly the highest number of fake followers on Instagram. She has 15.5m followers, but 28.6% of these are estimated to be bots. Although the model, businesswoman and media personality may not be aware of this, it means that almost 4.5m of her followers could be bots.

In close second is the iconic brand Victoria’s Secret with 28.5% of their 69.9m followers alleged to be fake, followed by Kourtney Kardashian with 27.9%.

Nike has 46.35 million alleged fake followers out of its 168.3 million Instagram followers

NameFollowers (M)Fake Followers (%)Real Followers (%)Real Followers (M)Number of Fake Followers (M)Victoria's Secret69.928.571.550.619.3Nike168.327.572.5122.046.4Versace24.327.172.917.76.6Calvin Klein21.426.273.815.85.6Prada27.125.474.620.26.9Kylie Cosmetics25.224.975.118.96.3Chanel45.824.775.434.511.3Anastasia Beverly Hills19.723.476.615.14.6Lamborghini30.323.176.923.37.0Starbucks17.922.277.813.94.0

As one of the world’s largest brands, you might be surprised to find that Nike apparently has the highest volume of fake followers out of the brands TechRobot analysed, with 27.54 per cent of their following allegedly not being real.

However, Victoria’s Secret had the highest percentage of fake followers according to the study with 28.5% of their following alleged to be bots or other fake accounts.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have an alleged total of 134.14 million fake Instagram followers combined due to bots

NameFollowers (M)Fake Followers (%)Real Followers (%)Real Followers (M)Number of Fake Followers (M)Cristiano Ronaldo329.123.576.5251.877.3Neymar Jr.5.923.376.81.44.5LeBron James1.122.877.20.80.3Marcelo Vieira Jr48.322.777.337.411.0Lionel Messi252.122.577.5195.356.8Zlatan Ibrahimovic4921.878.338.310.7David Beckham1.120.779.30.90.2Ronaldinho5820.579.546.111.9James Rodriguez4720.279.837.59.5Virat Kohli144.719.480.6116.728.0

Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have a staggering amount of Instagram followers—Cristiano Ronaldo with 329.1 followers and Lionel Messi with 252.1. However, their alleged fake following is quite concerning.

Messi has an estimated 56.8 million fake followers and Ronaldo has an even greater number at 77.34 million alleged fake subscribers. ​​Both are two of the world’s top earners on Instagram and are paid over hundreds of thousands to promote products on their pages, but collaborators should be aware that many of these could be bots.

Virat Kohli had the highest percentage of real Instagram followers out of the 10 most popular sports stars on the platform. The Indian cricketer and the current captain of the India national team has 144.7 million followers and became one of the first cricketers to reach 100 million followers. 81% of these, 11.6,7m million, are expected to be real.

NameFollowers (M)Fake Followers (%)Real Followers (%)Real Followers (M)Number of Fake Followers (M)Chris Hemsworth50.223.576.538.411.8Robert Downey Jr50.823.376.839.011.8Shraddha Kapoor64.922.877.250.114.8Kevin Hart119.922.777.392.727.2Leonardo DiCaprio49.322.577.538.211.1Zendaya104.121.878.381.522.7Priyanka Chopra67.320.779.353.413.9Vin Diesel7320.579.558.015.0Dwayne Johnson26320.279.8209.853.2Gal Gadot6019.480.648.311.7

The film stars analysed by TechRobot with the least fake followers are apparently Gal Gadot, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr and Chris Hemsworth. They all have real followers averaging over 75 per cent. However, ‘The Rock’ has over five times as many alleged fake followers: 53.18 million out of his massive 263 million followers is estimated too not be real. Again, this is likely the result of bots targeting well-known celebrities such as ‘The Rock’, whose films ‘Jungle Cruise’ and ‘Jumanji’ have been huge box office hits.

Ariana Grande has 66.17 million alleged fake followers out of her astounding 194.13 Instagram followers

NameFollowers (M)Fake Followers (%)Real Followers (%)Real FollowersNumber of Fake FollowersKaty Perry131.927.872.295.336.6Miley Cyrus142.127.272.8103.538.6Nicki Minaj153.227.073.0111.841.4Demi Lovato113.126.873.282.830.3Taylor Swift173.926.773.3127.546.4Jennifer Lopez171.326.173.9126.544.8Justin Bieber19025.774.3141.148.9Selena Gomez25325.774.3188.065.0Beyoncé200.725.574.5149.651.1Ariana Grande260.325.474.6194.166.2

Ariana Grande has the highest number of real followers out of the 10 most popular musicians on Instagram. 66.17m of her overall followers are real, with only 25.4% estimated to be fake profiles or bots.

The award-winning, American singer, actress, and songwriter is one of the highest-earning Instagrammers and has one of the most followed Instagram accounts of all time.

She’s had many endorsements deals with top brands which she has promoted all over her Instagram.