Which celebrity brands have the most fake followers on Instagram?

From spamming chats with requests to become global ambassadors for brands with zero followers to commenting under posts for all kinds of buying and selling, Instagram has, as we know, become a breeding ground for bots and fake profiles. It’s also well known that one of the secret tactics of digital marketing is to purchase follower bundles to boost a brand’s credibility and authority. A new report by global agency Socially Powerful analyzed which celebrity-founded brands have the highest percentage of fake followers (which now spread like wildfire). It’s often easy to notice how profiles with millions of followers have little actual interaction with their community in terms of likes, comments, or shares. The truth is that, as highlighted in the report, many of those followers could be "digital ghosts": inactive accounts, automated bots, or, more simply, users only interested in follow-backs to inflate their own numbers. The analysis conducted by Socially Powerful is based on a list of celebrity brands selected from reputable sources and examined using the Modash tool, which helped identify suspicious followers, bots, and engagement rates. The data, collected in March 2025, made it possible to estimate the percentage of fake followers for each brand, offering a clear look into the authenticity of their audience. Perhaps the most surprising data comes from the top of the list: it appears that The Row is leading the ranking.

According to the analysis, over 32% of the users who follow the official page of the Olsen twins’ brand are made up of unreliable or potentially fake profiles. In numbers, we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of accounts that the brand cannot truly rely on for marketing or sales. A strong contrast to the image of The Row, considered one of the most elusive brands in the luxury space, known for its ongoing war against the use of cellphones during their shows. Next in line are all the brands linked to the Kardashian clan. In second place, with a percentage close to 30%, is Good American by Khloé Kardashian, a label that—despite the media prominence of its founder—shows a rather weak engagement rate (around 0.02%). Following in the top 5 are Poosh by Kourtney Kardashian, SKIMS by Kim Kardashian, and Savage X Fenty by Rihanna, all with suspicious follower percentages approaching or exceeding 28%. This demonstrates how, beyond the initial visual impact (a six- or seven-figure follower count), the lack of a genuinely active audience makes the artificial nature of that popularity even more obvious. In particular, Poosh and Savage X Fenty report very low engagement rates, further proving how \"fake fans\" fail to spark genuine dialogue with the brand.

The issue, however, is more complex than simply accusing brands of buying followers. Sometimes, fake accounts and bots latch on to viral profiles spontaneously in an attempt to simulate interaction and promote other services. For brands, the line between genuine fame and manufactured popularity is increasingly thin. To an untrained eye, a million followers might appear as a sign of authority and recognition, whereas a closer look can reveal that the number is — for lack of a better term — just fluff. This vicious cycle impacts a brand’s reputation and undermines the social proof mechanism typical of platforms, where success is given (or at least suggested) by word-of-mouth between real users. On one hand, follower count acts as a business card; on the other, it’s the engagement rate, together with user-generated content, that determines long-term credibility. A real supporter will purchase the product, show it to their followers, and maybe talk about it without being pushed by exchange dynamics or opaque algorithms. A bot, instead, doesn’t convert, doesn’t create content, and doesn’t generate trust. On the contrary, nine times out of ten, it annoys potential customers and drives them away from brand loyalty. The scenario outlined by Socially Powerful’s report confirms a well-known trend: social media —Instagram, in particular — are in a phase where the appearance of success can easily overshadow its substance. This doesn’t mean that brands with high percentages of fake followers have no real fans or significant sales. Rather, it suggests that their social image, inflated by tens or hundreds of thousands of empty accounts, might be more fragile than the big numbers suggest.