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Instagram carried out one of the largest clean-ups in its history yesterday, removing millions of bots, fake accounts, and inactive profiles in a single wave that shook the follower counts of celebrities and influencers around the world, including Cuban artists and musicians.
The event, dubbed by users as the “Great Purge of 2026”, occurred on May 7 and its effects were immediately visible on the profiles of figures who had amassed millions of followers over the years.
A spokesperson for Meta was clear about this: "As part of our routine process to eliminate inactive accounts, some Instagram accounts may have noticed updates in their follower counts. Active followers are not affected, and any suspended account that is restored will be added back to the count after verification."
On a global scale, the numbers are staggering: Kylie Jenner lost more than 14 million followers, Cristiano Ronaldo saw 6,622,220 disappear, and even the official Instagram account lost nearly nine million of its own followers.
Cuban artists also felt the impact. According to data from SocialBlade, these were the recorded variations during the purge:
- Camila Cabello (born in Cojímar, Cuba): -1,049,285
- Pitbull (Cuban-American): -224,703
- Gente de Zona: -40,744
- Jacob Forever: -24,185
- Yomil: -18,880
- Ovi: -21,105
- Randy Malcom: -12,996
- Alexander Delgado: -10,963
- El Micha: -10,040
- Descemer Bueno: -3,298
- The Goddess: -1,812
- Bebeshito: -1,645
- Seidy La Niña: +2,445
- Dany Ome: +10,761
Camila Cabello and Pitbull lead the absolute losses, although they are also the Cuban-origin artists with the largest follower base on the platform, which explains the magnitude of their figures.
Among the artists of the Cuban urban scene, Gente de Zona was the duo most affected with 40,744 fewer followers, followed by Jacob Forever with 24,185 and Ovi with 21,105.
But it wasn't all losses. Dany Ome was the big winner of the group with +10,761 followers during the purge, a sign of an active and genuine audience.
Seidy La Niña also gained followers during the cleanup: +2,445 during that period, and she has accumulated over 40,000 new followers in the last two weeks, establishing herself as one of the Cuban artists with the most organic growth at this time.
It is important to clarify that losing followers in this purge does not imply fraud or the purchase of followers. Meta estimates that between 10% and 15% of its active accounts are fake or spam, and by 2025, it had already removed over 500 million fake accounts according to its Transparency Report.
Any profile with followers accumulated over the years could be affected, regardless of its behavior on the platform.
This purge is not an isolated phenomenon: X conducted its own bot cleanup on April 9, 2026, suspending 208 accounts per minute, in a global trend driven by pressure from advertisers and regulators demanding more transparent and authentic audience metrics.
Among Cuban influencers, Sandra Cires was the most affected, losing 55,278 followers in the same purge, according to data from SocialBlade.
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