This is how to make sure someone doesn’t show up in your follower suggestions

Throwback to 2011 where every grainy Instagram filters flooded a chronological timeline of posts and cracking the system on how to gain more followers wasn’t such a big deal. But now we’ve entered an era of the app where it suggests accounts to follow, most of which you don’t care for because they sometimes connect you to past hookups, breakups and fuckboys. If you want to stop that mess, here’s how to stop seeing suggested accounts on Instagram.

Cut ties with the followers you share

Just like that last fuckboy you messed with, cut that bitch off. It’s mostly because you’re following a large percentage of their friends. The instant you press the follow button, a carousel drops down to show you all of the people you don’t like that they’re friends with:

Bretman Rock’s Instagram page, for example, follows Blackface makeup model Nikita Dragun and melting stick of butter Jeffree Star. Because Bret and I love beauty, Instagram directs me to his racist fanclub in the suggestion dropdown.

You might still be friends with them on Facebook

If you haven’t scraped through your Facebook friends list (because who doesn’t in their spare time), see if you and the person showing up in the Instagram suggested list are still FB friends.

Because Facebook and Instagram are linked, you’ll get notifications when you find your friend on Facebook is on Instagram as (insert whackass handle here). When you unfollow or unfriend that person, the chances of seeing them in your suggested accounts will be less likely.

Here’s how to get rid of them for good

It’s actually really simple to learn how to remove someone from the suggested accounts. In the box that shows the suggested account, there’s a tiny little x:

Once you click that x, you’re done. The suggested account won’t show up anymore either under the same account you’ve just followed or any other related accounts for problematic makeup gurus. So if you don’t want any references of that dickface’s existence, click away. You can follow them later on when you’re life is spiraling next time and you’re craving some D.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

● The way to gain followers on Instagram is to hide your face

● Babe’s guide to everything Instagram, from getting famous to stalking your exes

● I tried different Instagram aesthetics to see which got more followers

@aribines