Taylor Swift, Kardashians and Neymar among celebs with most fake followers

by Arvind Hickman

August 13, 2019

News research claims 46% of Kourtney Kardashian's followers on social media are fake

Kourtney Kardashian, Taylor Swift and Ronaldo have one thing in common - they each have very high numbers of fake followers on their social media feeds, new research has found.

A new study by the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) found that many Hollywood A-listers and sports stars also have high numbers of fake followers across their social media channels.

The ICMP ran the Instagram and Twitter handles of celebrities through software to determine how many of their followers were fake.

Leading the charge is Germany and Real Madrid footballer Toni Kroos (51% fake followers), Ellen DeGeneres (49%) and Isco (49%).

Meanwhile Taylor Swift (46%), Katy Perry (44%) and the Kardashian sisters Kourtney (46%) and Khloe (43%) also polled high (see lists below).

Several football stars fared no better. Following Kroos is Isco (49%), Luka Modric (49%) and Philippe Coutinho (48%).

These findings are consistent with other recent studies. Another study by Takumi found Love Island stars had even higher numbers of fake followers, with 65% of followers of Amber Rose Gill marked as fake.

Another study by Swedish e-commerce start-up A Good Company and analytics firm HypeAuditor – which assessed 1.84 million Instagram accounts across 82 countries – concluded that the majority of "influencers" on Instagram engaged is some form of fakery, artificially boosting followers, likes and comments and/or using bots.

Lynne Franks, one of the most influential PR and fashion industry pioneers, told PRWeek influencer marketing has "gotten out of control" and it was too easy for "any little girl sitting in a bedroom" to buy fake audiences on social media.