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 US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into whether Facebook and other social media companies have violated antitrust laws in their handling of user data.
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.