“Follow Their Leader" is a crowdfunding platform that uses Instagram's own algorithm to ban hate-spreading accounts by buying them fake followers. 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 to raise donations, shut accounts and send Instagram a very direct message. And it worked, the campaign message reached Instagram and created enough public pressure to force 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. But hateful content is proven to be the most engaging, which makes it extremely profitable to keep on Instagrams platform. However, Instagram's algorithm can automatically detect and remove accounts that buy fake followers, as that threatens their business model. To prove that the removal of hate is a question of money, not technology, we used their own algorithm to send a clear message to them. Follow Their Leader is a crowdfunding platform where people could buy fake followers for hate-spreading accounts. Since Instagram's algorithm reacts to an unnatural rise in followers, we bought fake followers, which triggered Instagram’s algorithm. It then automatically shadow-bans the accounts - those that already broke the platform's Terms & Conditions - and ultimately shut them down.

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 strategy to use Instagrams own algorithm to achieve its goal - get Instagram to 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 people spending more time on the platform - ultimately generating profit. However, fake followers hurt their business model (as advertisers don't want to pay for bots seeing their 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 which would then get these accounts shut down. The campaign was first launched in sub-groups on Instagram, WhatsApp, Youtube, Facebook, Reddit, Messenger, Twitter, and Telegram, to avoid alerting the extremist accounts that were targeted. Later, an open letter to Instagram was released, which ran on all platforms and revealed how we had used their own algorithm to prove their unethical priorities.

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.