Brands lost $ 11 m , 7.3 % of total North American Q2 spending , on fake followers of Instagram market influencers . Unilever CMO Keith Weed said his company would no longer work with customers who bought such bots . A list of “ most fooled ” brands by market intelligence company Points North ##wire showed skincare start - up brands Sugar Living suffered the most with 60 % of followers turning out to be bots . hedge North said the 100 most fooled brands ' sponsored posts on Instagram went to audiences a third of which were fake . The firm said total losses in revenue could be as much as $ 60 m .
Brands lost $11m, 7.3% of total North American Q2 spending, on fake followers of Instagram market influencers. Unilever CMO Keith Weed said his company would no longer work with influencers who bought such bots. A list of “most fooled” brands by market analyst company Points North Group showed skincare start-up Raw Sugar Living suffered the most with 46% of followers turning out to be bots. Points North said the 10 most fooled brands' sponsored posts on Instagram went to audiences a third of which were fake. The firm said total losses in 2018 could be as much as $60m.