In a world of Instagram influencers, there are plenty of people who bolster their followings with fake bot accounts. Of course, celebrities are some of the guiltiest when it comes to loading up with fake followers and now we know just which celebrities are the most responsible for having the fakest followings on the platform.
The analysis was conducted by the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP).
According to the findings, it was Ellen DeGeneres who was guilty of having the highest number of fake followers with a whopping 58 percent of her 74.4 million followers on Instagram being classified as bots.
Katy Perry checked in at second with 53 percent of her 83.6 million Instagram followers considered fake. Third place was a tie between Kourtney Kardashian and Taylor Swift, who both had 49 percent fake followers.
K-Pop boy band BTS rounded out the Top 5 with 48 percent of fake followers.
Other celebrities to register higher than 45 percent in the findings were Indian film actress and producer Deepika Padukone, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Priyanka Chopra, and Kris Jenner.
The New York Post explains why there is such a high number of fake bot accounts when it comes to celebrity Instagram followers:
So why so many faux follows? Celebrities have long been accused of hiring companies that enlist bots to follow their accounts, boosting their follow count and their value as influencers. But many insist that they’ve been targeted by the bots without their knowledge or approval. The issue came to light when Twitter announced that it would be purging bots in order to eliminate the ones promoting hate speech and political misinformation. In April, President Trump complained to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that his number of followers had plummeted. Dorsey reportedly blamed the broad crackdown on bots.
A full look at the findings from the ICMP can be found here.