Follow Their Leader is a crowdfunding platform where people can buy fake followers for hate-spreading accounts to trigger Instagram's own algorithm to automatically ban the extremist accounts. The platform was created to prove that the removal of hateful content on Instagram is a question of money and not technology, as Meta claims. The campaign used the very media it was targeting - Instagram - to raise donations, shut accounts and put enough public pressure on Instagram for them to begin working with The Non-Violence Project.

The Non-violence project foundation is an NGO whose mission is to inspire, motivate, and engage people to prevent and reduce all forms of violence, both offline and online. Our brief was to bring their mission to life and prevent online violence from turning into physical violence, as numerous studies have shown that more people than ever are being radicalized on social platforms.

Instagram only removes 18.8% of hate posts from their platform as they claim they don't have the technology needed to identify and remove hateful content. At the same time, hateful content is proven to be the most engaging, which makes it extremely profitable for Instagram to keep it on their platform. However, Instagram's algorithm can detect and remove accounts that buy fake followers as that threatens their business model. So we decided to do something, never done before, to prove that the removal of hate is a question of money, not technology. We created Follow Their Leader - a crowdfunding platform where people could buy fake followers for hate-spreading accounts. Since Instagram's algorithm reacts to suspicious behavior e.g. an unnatural rise in followers, we bought fake followers, which triggered Instagram’s algorithm. It shadow-bans the accounts - accounts already breaking the Terms & Conditions - and ultimately shut them.

Follow Their Leader is based on research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which found a direct link between Instagram's inaction against hate content and the profits it generates for Instagram.

The Non-Violence Projects strategy was to not only expose how Instagram is actively not responding to the danger of extremists on their platform; but do something about it. Follow Their Leader proved that Instagram prioritizes profit over people. Because if the algorithm can easily auto-remove content with fake followers, why can’t it target hate? The campaign used the very platform it was hacking to achieve its goal - put enough public pressure on Instagram to make them meet with The Non-Violence Project to discuss self-regulation.

Hateful content has been proven to be the most engaging form of content, which makes Instagram's algorithms promote it to more people. This results in more time spent on the platform - ultimately generating profit. However, fake followers hurt their business model (as advertisers don't want to pay for bots seeing ads). Using this insight we built a platform, where accounts that promote racism, homophobia, nazism, and violence were put up for sale.

People could then donate money, which we used to buy fake followers that would get the accounts shut down. The campaign was launched in sub-groups on Instagram, Whatsapp, Youtube, Facebook, Reddit, Messenger, Twitter, and Telegram to avoid alerting the targeted extremist accounts. Later, an open letter to Instagram was sent out on all social platforms and on a digital billboard truck that was placed in front of Meta’s headquarters in San Francisco.

The campaign not only revealed how Instagram ignores extremists and other hateful influencers on their platform, but it also did something about the problem by targeting the hate at the very source where it spreads. Follow Their Leader shadow-banned all the selected extremist accounts by mobilizing enough people to buy several hundred thousand fake followers. Follow Their Leader gave an NGO the opportunity to hold the world's largest social media company accountable for the content on their platform by using their own technology against them. And it worked! The campaign reached its goal as Meta has now agreed to meet with The Non-Violence Project Foundation to discuss how Instagram can enforce their own guidelines to avoid online violence from ever turning to physical violence, paving the way for Instagram to become a less hate-focused platform.

When the Non-Violence Project Foundation learned that Instagram collects users' data to profit from accounts that spread hate and incite violence, they knew they had to take action. So, we created 'Follow Their Leader,' where we use the social platform Instagram's own algorithms against themselves to prove that the removal of extremist accounts is a question of money, not technology. The campaign used the very platform it was targeting to collect donations to use against the platform. Social media and its algorithms are what made this campaign possible. The insight, the execution, and the channels, as well as the results, were all centered around social media channels, which in the end proved that Instagram prioritizes profit over people.