Why did Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi lose millions of Instagram followers overnight?
(Courtesy : LaLiga Content Hub)
The social media platform has deleted millions of bot accounts.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, two of the greatest football players of all time, appear to be susceptible to Instagram’s whims.
The two renowned athletes lost almost 13 million followers between them after the social networking site purged millions of fake accounts from its user base.
Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi lose millions of Instagram followers
Of the two, Cristiano Ronaldo suffered the most, losing 8 million followers in a single night. Granted, he still has over 666 million followers; that demonic number keeps him at the top of the Instagram charts, making him the most popular account on the social media site.
Five million of Messi‘s followers vanished during the alleged purge. With about 100 million more followers than Selena Gomez, who is in third place despite losing 6 million, the Argentinian icon is currently in second place with 507 million followers.
Despite losing millions of followers, both stars remain among the highest-followed players across all social media apps.
Instagram’s decision has affected hundreds of thousands of well-known accounts. Meta intends to remove spam accounts, inactive users, and non-organic followers that might have been acquired through outside sources.
The phrase “Instagram Bot Purge 2026” has been used to describe Meta’s purported effort to remove phoney, dormant, and spam accounts from Instagram. The corporation has been tightening its regulations on automated interaction and reposted content, as well as its spam detection technologies.
The announcement is thought to be related to Meta’s initiatives to increase the platform’s legitimacy and provide more assistance to content producers. It appears that this clearing is among the biggest Instagram account deletions in recent memory.
How many followers does Lionel Messi have on Instagram?
507M followers.
How many followers does Cristiano Ronaldo have on Instagram?
666M followers.
How many bot accounts did Insta delete today?
They deleted millions of bot accounts from their servers.
For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram.
After earning a bachelor's degree in mass media, Rajarshi began his career as a sports writer in 2019, driven by his passion for sports journalism. He has been working in the field for over six years. A devoted fan of Lionel Messi and Barcelona, Rajarshi has been involved in sports since childhood. Before turning his focus to journalism, he even represented his college at the state level. Along with covering football, he enjoys playing the game, watching movies, and experimenting with new recipes in his spare time, as cooking is one of his favorite hobbies.