In a sensible move that's long overdue, Instagram is pushing back against marketing spam in a big way.

Spamalot

There are an increasing number of services that employ bots to automatically like or comment on Instagram accounts. The idea is to win you more followers and make your account more visible.

These bots can like and comment very quickly, so quickly in fact they’ve been known to slip by Instagram’s anti-spam filters.

Fees for this sort of thing start at US$10 per month.

Push back

Now Instagram is blocking accounts that engage in these spammy practices. However it's not as easy as flicking a switch. New suspect accounts pop up all the time, putting Instagram’s censors in a whack-a-mole position.

However to keep users and marketers coming back for more, Instagram is persisting.

The last time Instagram cracked down on spam in 2014, the user counts of certain celebrities plummeted. (We’re looking at you Bieber and Kim Kardashian.)

Stay tuned to see if there are any new high-profile casualties.

Do you think Instagram’s update will help your brand on the platform? Let us know in the Comments.