Instagram announced in November 2018 that it is preparing to reduce the number of fake accounts on the platform. The same thing applies to other companies doing sporadic cleaning to remove inactive accounts. However, it seems that the case in question is not about cleaning user data.

Yesterday, famous stars lost millions of Instagram followers, including Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Kylie Jenner and not only

Although for VIPs such as Kylie and Selena such a loss does not have any major impact, we can not say the same for bloggers whose work and profits are dependent on the followers. James Charles was one of those who reacted to Theittet asking "why did he lose more than half a million followers?"

Soon after, Instagram announced that "he is aware of the problem and is working to resolve it". At the moment, the accounts have been restored to their previous state.

Source: The Verge