The most important part of every content creator’s life is the love and appreciation of their followers. It doesn’t matter if you are a YouTuber, Instagrammer, or TikToker; the admiration you receive from your followers is always beyond any other metric of growth and engagement. These lovely followers are— more than anything else— what keeps every creator going. The only thing you need to do is consistently create videos that inform, engage, or entertain. However, there is also a darker side to TikTok followers that every sincere TikToker hates: bots!
Bots have lately become a big problem in the social media world. They come along unnoticed, follow your account, and like your videos endlessly without dropping any comments, screwing up the quality of engagements you get.
We are with you on your hatred of bots and want to help you get rid of them. So, if you want to stop bots from following your TikTok account, that’s exactly what we are here for! Keep reading to know how you can get rid of these bots.
Why should you steer clear of bots on TikTok?
Before we get into the possibilities and processes of stopping bots from following you, let’s first address this question: Are bots really that bad?
The most basic answer to the above question lies in the very definition of bots. They are not real people; they don’t exist. They are mini robots, blocks of code in a virtual matrix devoid of feelings and emotions. Certainly, they are not the kind of accounts any creator would like to have.
Don’t get us wrong; we are not suggesting that bots are useless. They have several real-world applications that simplify many things for us in ways we didn’t know existed. The problem, therefore, is not with bots. The real issue is the presence of bots in the wrong place.
The disadvantages of TikTok bots
Bots are fine, and even desirable, in places where they can help. But on a platform like TikTok, a bot is the last thing you want to meet. They are harmful to your TikTok account in many ways:
Bots adversely affect your account’s engagement. When bots follow you on TikTok, you generally see an influx of likes on your videos. While an increase in the likes means an increase in engagements, these pseudo-likes actually harm you in the long run. Why? Because they decrease the likes-to-comments ratio of your videos.
Engagements are not only about the number of likes. TikTok also considers the quality of comments, number of comments, and number of shares. If you have too many bots following you on TikTok, the algorithm will eventually downgrade your videos because accounts (bots) like your videos but don’t comment or share them.
Bots manipulate your account’s reach.
TikTok suggests your videos to people based on the accounts that like and comment on your videos. If a person named Sam likes or comments on your videos, TikTok might recommend the videos to Sam’s followers or friends. This process ensures that your account reaches like-minded people who are more likely to like your videos.
Now imagine how bots can affect this algorithmic process. Bots generally don’t have any followers or friends; they don’t follow people based on interests. Therefore, your videos will likely reach irrelevant people instead of like-minded ones.
Bots can bring you more bots! This is surely the worst case, but it is true. Most times, you would see bots having little to no followers—very much like a new account. However, some bots can have several followers, sometimes in hundreds. Most of these followers are also bots.
This can be very concerning because having such bots helps more bots identify and follow your account. In other words, more inconvenience! You surely don’t like the idea, do you?
Bots are irritating. We don’t even need to mention this. The presence of bot accounts in your TikTok is one of the last things you would expect.
These fake accounts—usually with a long random name and a female profile picture—are irritating just to look at. Besides, the random irrelevant comments some of these bots drop in your videos can annoy anyone!
With all these points to consider, we know you won’t let your account be full of bots, anyway. So, let’s finally see how you can eliminate this nuisance.
How to Stop Bots from Following You on TikTok?
It’s time for some hands-on work. We need to talk about how you can get rid of these bots as efficiently as possible. However, as it turns out, it’s not so simple.
As much as we would like to offer you a one-stop solution to remove all bot accounts simultaneously, there is no well-defined solution. These bot accounts are not very easy to detect (at least, not easily detectable by TikTok’s algorithm). They look the same as a normal account.
Therefore, you must resort to manual ways to stop these bots from following you. Here are some of these ways:
Block them
Blocking a bot is the best way to stop it from following you again. Though this method will not stop new bots from following you, it will surely help you eliminate the ones you already know of. Here’s how you can block someone from your Following list on TikTok:
Step 1: Open TikTok and log into your account.
Step 2: Head to the profile section of your TikTok account by tapping on the Me icon. The icon is in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Step 3: You will see three figures at the top of your profile screen, just below your profile picture: Following, Followers, and Likes. Tap on Followers to view the list of your followers.
Step 4: Find the bot account from the list and tap on its name to go to the bot’s profile.
Step 5: Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner of the profile and tap on the Block icon. Then tap on Confirm to block the account.
Go private
If you are not an active TikToker and are not into uploading videos, this is a great option to filter out bot accounts.
Since you don’t make TikTok videos, you can easily make your account private without worrying about followers. If your account is private, no one can follow you without your consent. This way, you can detect bots beforehand and reject or ignore their follow requests.
Here is how you can make your TikTok account private:
Step 1: Open TikTok and go to your profile section.
Step 2: Tap on the three parallel lines in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings and Privacy.
Step 3: The Settings and Privacy screen contains several options. Tap on Privacy.
Step 4: You will see the option Private Account near the top. Tap on the slider next to this option to make your account private.
Contact TikTok
If you see an extreme influx of bots, the first method will become too tedious. Moreover, going private will not make sense if you are a TikTok creator. In such a scenario, the best option is to contact TikTok support and ask them for help.
Step 1: Open TikTok, log into your account and go to the Settings and Privacy section as mentioned above.
Step 2: Scroll down through the Settings and Privacy page and tap on Report a Problem under the heading Support.
Step 3: You will see the pen-paper icon in the top-right corner. Tap on it to enter the Report section.
Step 4: Describe your problem in a few words and attach a screenshot of the bot accounts from your follower list. Then tap on Report to submit.
Final thoughts
The secret to a successful TikTok account is quality content that garners quality engagements and followers. However, bots are the hurdle to your account’s real growth. After all, you need real followers to grow, not bots that spam your following list.
In this blog, we discussed how bots could harm your TikTok account in various ways and how you can get rid of these pseudo-followers.
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