In a frenzied social world, more often than not, there are influencers with a lot of followers on sites like Instagram and Facebook.
But sometimes, we come across influencers who have a certain amount of fake followers on their Instagram profiles.
According to reports, India ranks in the top 3 for having the most number of fake Instagram accounts.
Further to that, the same report suggests that there are 16 million accounts of Indian Instagram Influencers with fake followers or a boost vanity metric.
This metric can be used to inorganically increase followers, likes and even the engagement of an account.
The report published in PRWeek, was conducted by a Swedish e-commerce start-up, called A Good Company and data analytics firm HyperAuditor jointly.
The report lists India on the third spot and is topped by the United States with 49 million of fake accounts, followed by Brazil with 27 million of such accounts on Instagram.
Anders Ankarlid, CEO of A Good Company, told PRWeek:
Companies are pouring money into influencer marketing, thinking that they are connecting with real people and not Russian bots. In reality, they are pouring money down the drain and giving away free products to someone who acquired a mass-following overnight.
Another anonymous report suggests, that over 60% of Instagram Influencers in India, admit to either using engagement pods, bought followers, likes or comments and have no intention to stop anytime soon.
Instagram’s influencer market may have reached close to $2 billion by the end of 2018, yet, the fact remains that a majority of fake followers and influencers have played a part in achieving this status unethically.