Small and large accounts affected as Instagram cleans up spam and fake engagement Last updated: May 07, 2026 | 13:47 Influencers and users see sudden drops as Instagram removes bots and inactive accounts. Pixabay Dubai: Instagram has removed millions of followers from accounts across the platform as part of an ongoing cleanup of bot and inactive profiles, leading to sudden drops in follower counts for users globally. The change appears to be linked to Meta’s continued efforts to improve account authenticity by identifying and deleting spam accounts, fake profiles, and long-inactive users. While Instagram regularly carries out such cleanups, this latest round has been more noticeable because of its scale, with some accounts seeing significant reductions almost overnight. Get updated faster and for  FREE : Download the  Gulf News  app now - simply  click here .…