Fake follower: meaning and how it works

A fake follower is an account that does not belong to a real, active person.

Fake followers add to the count but never engage. Audit yours with this guide.

How it works in practice

Fake followers hurt engagement rate because they never like or comment, and a large share of them can make a profile look unconvincing to brands.

Example

Example: an account with 50,000 followers and an engagement rate under 0.3% often has a large share of inactive or fake followers.