Celebrities Have an Alarming Amount of Fake Followers, Report Finds A recent analysis by the Institute of Contemporary<br />Music Performance (ICMP) has found that Instagram<br />and Twitter are being overrun by bots. These bots are responsible for boosting<br />the follower count of celebrities such as BTS,<br />Kourtney Kardashian and Taylor Swift by millions. The estimated number of fake accounts for<br />each celebrity was found by running their<br />followers lists through authentication programs. Ellen Degeneres is at the top of the list, with<br />the ICMP estimating that over 30 million of<br />her Instagram followers are fake accounts. Katy Perry has the second most number of fake<br />followers, with an estimated 53 percent of her<br />83.6 million Instagram followers found to be bots. While bots that spread viruses account for more than<br />28 percent of the total bots currently lurking the web, these fake accounts could also be the result<br />of account boosting tactics that are used by<br />celebrities to increase their online value.
