It can feel great to build a following on TikTok but it can be irritating to realize that the majority of your followers are bot accounts, which essentially means they are fake accounts.
This is an issue many TikTok users have been dealing with and you might be one. In today’s article, we will discuss why this is likely happening to you and what you can do about the situation. Read on to find out why bots keep following you on TikTok.
Why Do Bots Keep Following Me On TikTok?
The most likely reason why you keep on having bot accounts (fake accounts) follow you on TikTok is that your TikTok account is public. Do you have a public TikTok account? A brand-new TikTok account first appears on the platform as a public account.
Your account is public if the settings have not been changed to private. Your videos are accessible to anybody with a TikTok account, who may also respond to them. Additionally, it implies that they can just click the “follow” button to follow you.
Additionally, a public account lacks any tools or options for approving or rejecting followers.
So you might need to modify your account to secure your videos if you do not receive any follow request notifications or if you keep getting strange followers. With a private TikTok account, you may choose whether to accept or reject followers.
With that said, keep in mind that TikTok will make your account automatically private if you indicate that you are under the age of 16. So long as your TikTok account is set to Private, you will be able to control who can and cannot follow you.
This way you can reject accounts that you believe to be bot accounts (fake accounts). Let us get some possible reasons why this is occurring and what you can do to mend this inconvenient problem.
1. Your Account is Public
As previously mentioned, the most likely reason why you keep on having bot accounts (fake accounts) follow you on TikTok, is that your account is public. Do you have a public TikTok account? A brand-new TikTok account first appears on the platform as a public account.
Your account is public if the settings have not been changed to private. Your videos are accessible to anybody with a TikTok account, who may also respond to them.
Additionally, it implies that they can just click the “follow” button to follow you. Additionally, a public account lacks any tools or options for approving or rejecting followers.
So you might need to modify your account to secure your self-created videos if you do not receive any follow request notifications or if you keep getting strange followers.
With a private TikTok account, you may choose whether to accept or reject followers. There is a relatively simple fix for this situation.
Fix – Make Your Account Private
You can certainly benefit from making your TikTok account private, as this will allow you to either approve or reject new followers.
This way you can evaluate each new follower and make sure they are not a bot account (fake account), which means you will have control over who can or cannot follow you on TikTok.
How to Make Your TikTok Account Private
Step 1. First, open the TikTok app on your iPhone, then select your profile icon in the bottom right of the screen.
Step 2. Next, select the options menu indicated by the three lines in the top right-hand corner of your screen.
Step 3. On the options menu, tap on the Settings and Privacy option.
Step 4. Now you can go to the Privacy option, then you can switch the Private Account option “On” or “Off.”
2. Bot TikTok Accounts
Bot software creates and maintains automated accounts known as bots. Bots on TikTok act just like regular users. It can follow or unfollow TikTok users as well as like, share, and even video stitch content.
Bots on TikTok can be malevolent or beneficial. A customer bot is an illustration of a TikTok bot that is useful. These bots are used by businesses to speed up customer service responses.
Some TikTok bots can be detrimental even though they can be useful. To propagate malware, cybercriminals utilize bots.
By instructing malicious bots to follow TikTok users, they do this. They can also send TikTok users URLs that are infected with malware. These links are disguised as short links to deceive gullible TikTok users. Because you utilized specific keywords in your videos, the bots undoubtedly started following you.
Here are some signs to keep an eye out for to determine which TikTok accounts are bots:
- Off-putting or “spammy” usernames. User names frequently include numerals.
- Vague or anonymous profiles. This means there will typically be no information in their bio.
- Many similar videos are posted by bot accounts almost simultaneously. The comments and answers from this account are concise. A TikTok bot typically comments on the same information.
- The ratio of followers to followers is unbalanced. TikTok bots frequently follow several accounts while only having a small number of followers.
- Look up the date the account was created. Bots frequently have recent dates of inception.
Any TikTok accounts that share similarities to these examples are likely bot accounts (fake accounts) but now that you know what to watch out for, let us get to the fix for this situation.
Fix – Block The Bots
The easiest way to stop spammy or automated accounts from following you is to protect your videos. A bot or spam follower can also be blocked or reported.
You cannot be followed by blocked accounts, and you also cannot be followed by blocked accounts. If you block an account that you are currently following, you will stop following that account (and them to unfollow you).
You will need to follow that account once more if you choose to unblock that account. If you are to block the TikTok accounts you believe to be bots, then they will not be able to follow you again and they will not be able to see your videos/content.
How to Block A TikTok Account
Step 1. The first thing you will want to do is go to the profile you would like to Block, then you can select the options menu indicated by the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Step 2. After selecting the three-dot options icon, a menu will drop down. On this menu, select the “Block” option.
Step 3. Finally, confirm your decision by selecting “Block” on the pop-up “are you sure?” message.
3. TikTok Needs to Do Something
If you are experiencing an outstanding amount of bots following you on an hourly basis such as 50-100 bot accounts, this is not not only annoying but also something TikTok needs to handle on their side.
There is no shame in wanting real people as TikTok followers and also not wanting to deal with all of the spam on your TikTok account.
Many people have voiced their displeasure about how easy it is for TikTok accounts to be bot accounts (fake accounts) and the measures TikTok should take to prevent them from popping up.
If someone such as a business creates a bot account, it is not necessarily a “dangerous” account but it does not change the fact that all of the spam can become quite annoying.
With that said, other bot accounts can be quite invasive if they manage to get you to click on the wrong link, which can provide them with private information. These are the kind of accounts TikTok needs to take action to prevent from reappearing.
Fix – Contact TikTok Help Center / Report Accounts
If you are dealing with an insane amount of bots following you on TikTok, then you should certainly contact TikTok’s Help Center since this is an issue they need to handle. There are a few ways to contact TikTok to let them know that something needs to be done about the number of bot accounts on their app.
Ways to Contact TikTok Help Center
- TikTok Email Support: [email protected]
- TikTok Live Chat Support
- TikTok Call Center Support
- TikTok Knowledge Base: https://support.tiktok.com/
- TikTok Forum
With that said, you can also report these bot (fake) accounts so that TikTok will hopefully investigate their accounts and can take the appropriate measures to prevent them from returning to the TikTok app.
Unfortunately, TikTok typically does not take any action against bot accounts (fake accounts), which is why it is a good idea to simply report the TikTok account.
How to Report A TikTok Account
Step 1. The first thing you will want to do is open the TikTok app and go to the account that you believe to be a bot or fake account.
Step 2. Next, select the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.
Step 3. From the menu that appears, tap on the “Report“ option, then select the “Report Account” option.
Step 4. Select a reason for reporting the account, you can choose the “Pretending to Be Someone” option.
Step 5. Now you can tap on “Submit Report” to report the bot (fake) account.