Nearly five days after a story published by The Tribune on Instagram’s “great purge”, a fresh analysis has highlighted a contrasting trend among public figures losing followers. Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has, in fact, gained followers during the purge.
According to “Not Just Analytics”, Gandhi’s follower count increased from nearly 13 million to 13.5 million between April 25 and May 12.
Rahul Gandhi gains followers
The “great purge” had earlier affected several personalities, including Priyanka Chopra, Virat Kohli and Kylie Jenner.
A recent analysis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Instagram account by ‘Not Just Analytics’ also showed a noticeable decline in followers. His follower count reportedly dipped from 101,660,717 on April 25 to around 101,094,822 on May 12.
PM Modi loses followers
On a viral Instagram post by @upscworldofficial, one user commented, “Truth doesn’t hide. Only grows.” Another comment read, “It’s coz bot accounts were removed by Instagram.” A third user wrote, “Modi and most BJPs are followed by bots
.” The internet is divided over various perspectives.
The sudden drop in follower counts is believed to be linked to parent company Meta’s crackdown on fake, inactive and bot-driven accounts. While Meta has not officially commented on the clean-up, social media tracking pages and analytics platforms have recorded sharp declines across celebrity profiles.
According to reports circulating online and data shared by Celebrity Radar on X, Kylie Jenner reportedly lost over 14 million followers, while football icon Cristiano Ronaldo saw a dip of around 8 million followers. Singer-actor Selena Gomez reportedly lost nearly 6 million followers.
