title: How to get instagram follower count from instagram public account after 2020 instagram api change?
body: <p>I am trying to retrieve the follower count only just using a user's instagram handle (aka @myusername). I read in several answers that you can access the &quot;https://www.instagram.com/{username}/?__a=1&quot; to retrieve the block of json that has all the details. However, when I try to do that now in 2020 after the api change, the url simply redirects me to the login page.</p>
  <p>I also looked at instagram basic display/graph api but I can't seem to find a way to get other users' follower counts.</p>
  <p>From the official ig basic display api documentation:  <a href="https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-basic-display-api/reference/user" rel="noreferrer">https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-basic-display-api/reference/user</a> <br />
  This api only allows you to get the account_type, id, ig_id (about to be deprecated), media count and username. (no sign of follower count)</p>
  <p>From the official ig graph api documentation:
  <a href="https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-api" rel="noreferrer">https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-api</a> <br />
  &quot;The API cannot access Intagram consumer accounts (i.e., non-Business or non-Creator Instagram accounts). If you are building an app for consumer users, use the Instagram Basic Display API instead.&quot;</p>
  <p>Since my program is suppose to retrieve the follower count from accounts that are not necessarily professional, I can't seem to figure out what to do...</p>
  <p>In conclusion:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>I have tried web scraping -&gt; get redirected to login page <br /></li>
  <li>Basic display api -&gt; can't get the follower count <br /></li>
  <li>Graph api -&gt; can't access consumer accounts <br /></li>
  </ul>
  <p>Does anyone have a solution for this?</p>
  <p>Thank you!</p>