12/05/2026
So Last week Instagram took the decision to start batch removing fake accounts/bots from it's platform. The results were quite sharp. Accounts like Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift and Cristiano Ronaldo lost approximately 6 million each overnight.
I've worked with several companies over the years who have purchased mass fake accounts. The majortiy of them were purchased at Instagram's peak (2016-20). Back then followers mattered, some companies became obsessed with numbers.
Fast forward a decade and anyone can be verified on social media for Instagram, for just a simply monthly fee.
The past several months I've been helping a few people on LinkedIn and other social network platforms with getting certain verified accounts back. At the moment there is a very high percentage of people that are either working on their own or as part of an agency, and especially with Meta, Facebook, and Instagram specifically. What is happening is that AI is flagging some content and automatically suspending their accounts.
Now if this was 10 years ago, there would obviously be a way of contacting Meta to get this issue fixed and to really speak to a human. These days, with pretty much every social media platform (Meta, X, YouTube, even LinkedIn), most of the customer service or contacts are AI themselves. We're in a situation where AI is flagging accounts as being in breach of laws or infringement and then when people go to get the support that they need, they're just basically speaking to another AI.
I can't express how important it is for anyone that is working in any capacity with social media to have a verified account. Now 10 years ago a blue tick meant that you were someone important or someone famous. These days that isn't the case. You jump on X and everyone is verified. You go on Instagram and more and more people are verified. It doesn't mean that you are of a certain status. It basically means that you are paying for premium support and I would urge anyone to do that, regardless of what platform they're on.
I personally pay for Instagram. I personally pay for Facebook and I pay for X. They're the three that I'm using the most and I think that if you're an agency, a one-man band, or if you're just doing things on your own and you're not verified, then you're creating a bigger problem for yourself. The people that I have helped, I think I've got 8 out of 10 of accounts back in the last 2 or 3 months and that basically is quite a high success rate. It's only because of the verification.
I still see companies that say, "Oh we are the biggest brand on social media because we've got x amount of followers." We've got 300,000 or 400,000 followers, the biggest brand on social media.
People don't care about how many followers you have anymore. It's not 2016, it's 2026. The blue tick just basically gives customers the sense of satisfaction that there is someone there that can help. I see social media these days as an addition to customer service.
If you're a company that is advertising on social media or if you're a person or if you're a brand and you are investing in social media as a big part of your image or your brand, then you need to really get verification done. I think it's only right.
