Instagram Clamps Down on Bots and The Companies Running Them

[engine]

Facebook's Instagram has clamped down on the companies with bots that automatically generate followers with the objective of enhancing a profile, according to reports.

I don't think it'll come as any surprise, except for the fact that it seemed to take a long time to make these moves.

Instagram has been tight-lipped about why it is just now going after such sites but said that “fostering authentic community activity is a priority and our policies reflect that.” A spokeswoman for the company said it views “any service that allows people to create bots to gain inauthentic followers as spam,” and pointed to guidelines that prohibit users from artificially collecting likes and followers and posting repetitive comments. Several of the shuttered sites posted notices online saying they closed at Instagram’s request but did not elaborate or respond to requests for comment. Instagram Clamps Down on Bots and The Companies Running Them [nytimes.com]

[tangor]

There's the "follow the money" and there's the "brand recognition", and then there's "pr by spam" ... all detrimental to most communities.

Glad it's happening. Wondering why it took so long. Maybe they needed the Fake Numbers to bolster their sale to FB?

[keyplyr]

They could have learned about these bots sooner had they kept abreast of the Search Engine Spider & User Agent ID Forum [webmasterworld.com] :)

[rapzkilla]

It seems like a pattern to me. These companies wait until they have enough users then kick the bots out, meanwhile, the bots kind of helped them grow ... Just saying.

[Writerly]

Too little too late, but I'm glad it's happening. And I totally agree, these companies know exactly what they are doing! They use the bots to expand their business - the minute they create a brand for themselves and have enough users, the bots are out.