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Nearly every mega-successful star in the entertainment industry uses some form of social media. Instagram attracts millions of followers and helps make celebrities money with sponsored posts. However, it turns out that some accounts following the biggest celebrities — such as Kourtney Kardashian — are fake. Here’s a look at a few of stars and the percentage of fake accounts tied to their brand.

Nearly a third of Kourtney Kardashian’s Instagram followers are fake — and she doesn’t even top the list

Kourtney Kardashian
Kourtney Kardashian | Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

Just last year, Kourtney Kardashian’s sister, Kim Kardashian West, amassed 145 million followers with nearly 44 percent of “fans” deemed fake. According to a 2019 report, Kardashian-West landed on a list of the top 99 celebrities with the most bot accounts. Even then, Kourtney Kardashian came in at No. 3. with almost half of her followers found to be fraudulent.

As of Aug. 4, 2020, fitness model Ana Cheri had the top spot with almost 42 percent of her 12.6 million followers listed as fake, according to the Celebrity Fakes Report by 777.

Still, Kardashian — who is No. 16 on the list — has around 93 million Instagram followers, almost 27 percent fakers. Kardashian-West fell a few spots in these particular data model, Modash.io and SparkToro. She sits at No. 22 with 182 million followers and 26.4 percent listed as “not real people.”

Katy Perry almost made the top 10

Pop singer Katy Perry is on the verge of motherhood with a healthy Instagram following. However, the American Idol judge is No. 13 on the False Followers list with 103 million followers and a 27.6 fake account rate.

Not only that, the rate at which fans “like” one of Perry’s posts is approximately 871,000. That’s not much from millions of followers.

Bella Hadid’s engagement rate matters

Model Bella Hadid is one of the fashion industry’s most recognizable faces. Fans know her work, and that of her sister, Gigi Hadid (who sits at No. 26). According to 777’s list, Hadid holds the No. 10 spot with 32 million followers. 30.53 percent of those millions are not real people.

But, the engagement rate is 2.29 percent, meaning that more people engage with Hadid’s posts than the No. 1 placeholder, Cheri.

Justin Timberlake’s posts get a lot of verified comments

At the time of the report, Justin Timberlake held the No. 18 spot with 52.9 million followers and 27.09 percent of them labeled “fake.” The singer, dancer, actor, and husband of Jessica Biel has less than 0.50 percent of so-called followers engaging in any posts. But, those that do are largely verified accounts.

Nicki Minaj gets the most ‘likes’

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With so many big-name celebrities on the list, it’s no surprise rapper Nicki Minaj landed at No. 17. at the time of the data’s recording, Minaj had 120 million followers with 27.26 of them fake. Minaj does have an average of 2.1 million “likes” per post which is more than any of the 16 others ahead of her.

That said, celebrities with the lowest percentage of fakes in 2020 include Will Smith, Billie Eilish, and Joanna Gaines at 12.71, 12.71, and 10.72 percentages, respectively.

On the Twitter front, things are a lot more curious. Olivia Palermo holds the top spot at 400,000 followers and 75.3 percent of them deemed fake accounts. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is right behind Palermo with 84.6 million followers and 70.20 percent of them found to be bots.

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