Virat Kohli is making headlines once more and it is not for a cricket reason. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru star's Instagram followers have been heavily affected following a massive platform cleanup by Meta that has taken social media by storm. Kohli is one of the biggest sporting personalities on social media worldwide. He currently has more than 270 million followers on Instagram and more than 67 million on X, though it has emerged that his Instagram followers recently took a sharp decline in numbers, with reports of a loss of nearly 2 million followers. It is understood that Kohli's follower count decreased from roughly 276 million to just under 274 million over the past few days. The recent drop in followers is thought to be due to Instagram's large-scale clean-up of spam accounts, inactive profiles, bots, and artificial engagement throughout the platform. And Kohli is not the only international celebrity and athlete affected by this recent Instagram move, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Selena Gomez, and Justin Bieber all said to have seen a decrease in their follower counts over the past few days. A social media post from Cric-Xtra revealed, "Instagram removed 2 million inactive accounts from Virat Kohli. Kohli had 276 million followers before Instagram's recent update." Watch Here: Instagram removed 2 million inactive accounts from Virat Kohli Kohli had 276 million followers before instagram’s recent update pic.twitter.com/7FNYfYlgOa — Cric-Xtra (@CricXtra11) May 7, 2026 Also Read | Virat Kohli Praises Mitchell Marsh With Heartwarming Gesture During IPL Clash Kohli focused on IPL 2026 despite social media frenzy While a flurry of activity and buzz on social media continue to discuss the large drop in followers Kohli himself has remained focused on the ongoing IPL 2026 campaign for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The veteran batter has been one of RCB's best and most consistent performers this season. Having scored 379 runs in 10 innings so far this season Kohli's average of 47.38 alongside three half-centuries is exemplary. Leading from the front he has been a vital component for the RCB throughout the IPL season as an opener giving his side blistering starts. Although Kohli was seen to have had a rare failure in the last outing of RCB against Lucknow Super Giants at Ekana Stadium. Batting after a revised DLS target of 213 during a rain-affected encounter Kohli was sent back to the pavilion on the second ball of the innings as Prince Yadav's inswinger went through him and struck his stumps. LSG managed to beat RCB by 9 runs after Mitchell Marsh played an astonishing knock of 111 runs off just 56 deliveries in the first innings of the game. Despite the loss RCB stay put in third position in the IPL 2026 points table with 12 points from 10 matches. The Bengaluru based franchise now need two more victories to confirm their playoffs spot in IPL 2026.