A new social media scandal erupted after political commentator and YouTuber Dhruv Rathee uploaded a viral video claiming that politician Raghav Chadha might have purchased fake followers on Instagram.

These allegations emerged soon after Chadha came into the limelight of online criticism following his political turn of events and the alleged loss of social media followers.

Rathee posted a short video online, stating that the Instagram account of Chadha revealed that there was some suspicious activity in terms of followers. He identified some of the profiles of his followers that seemed to have been inactive, with blank profile pictures, no posts, and minimal interaction. It appeared that those profiles were made in the month of April only.

Viral Video Fuels Debate Over ‘Fake Followers’ Claims

The video by Rathee soon became viral on such platforms as Instagram and X, as some users sided with the accusations and others disagreed. Other social media users referred to Rathee as a support to his observations, whereas others claimed that Rathee has transformed a political dispute to an online trolling campaign.

Chadha, as reported and discussed on social media, had apparently lost a large number of followers on the Internet over the recent days. According to Rathee, the fact that questionable accounts had suddenly emerged in the group of followers of Chadha, indicated that they were trying to keep the number of followers artificially high. Nevertheless, none of the official evidence has been published to confirm the fact that the fake followers were bought.

Notably, Chadha and his colleagues have not yet made any official statement regarding the particular charges brought against him by Rathee. The scandal has also brought up broader discussions on the internet on the use of paid followers and social media image management in politics. The number of followers is a topic that many users argued about as it might not be a true measure of popular support in the era of digital campaigning.

In the meantime, the statements of Rathee are mere allegations that go around as the topic of discussion on social media and viral videos. However, the scandal has brought up the fact that online influence, the number of followers, and political branding have become inseparable in the digital world.