How to Remove Followers on X (Including Bots)

How to remove followers on X (web)

The account drops off your followers list right away. They keep seeing your public posts if they visit your profile, and they can follow you again. If your account is protected, they have to send a new request instead, which you can ignore. That is all X’s Following FAQs promise. So use it for accounts you do not want counted. For people you want gone, block them.

How to remove followers on iPhone and Android

X’s help page lists Remove this follower as a web feature. If your app version shows it in a follower’s more menu, it does the same thing. If not, you have two options.

Option 1: use x.com in your phone’s browser

Open x.com in Safari or Chrome, sign in, and follow the web steps above. It removes the follower without a block, so there is nothing for them to notice on your profile.

Option 2: soft block in the app

1. 1

   Open the follower’s profile

   From your Followers list, or by tapping their name on any post.
2. 2

   Tap the more icon, then Block, then Block again

   Blocking makes them unfollow you, per X’s blocking page.
3. 3

   Tap the Blocked button to unblock

   Confirm with Unblock on iPhone or Yes on Android. They stay unfollowed, and can see and reply to your posts again.

Remove vs block vs soft block vs mute

Each of these four tools does something different. Pick the one that fits what you want the other person to be able to do next.

Sources: X Help, Following FAQs, Blocking on X and How to mute accounts, checked October 12, 2026. A blocked account is not notified, but sees that it is blocked if it visits your profile.

How to spot bot followers

X does not label bots in your followers list. But its notification filters hint at the signs. Its advanced filters let you silence new accounts, accounts with a default profile photo, and accounts without a confirmed email or phone. Use those signs, plus the ones below, when you scan the list.

One sign alone proves little. Plenty of real people never post and never upload a photo. Two or three signs on an account that followed you out of nowhere? That one is safe to remove.

How to clear bot followers

1. 1

   Remove the obvious ones first

   Work down your Followers list and remove the accounts that tick two or more of the signs above. Leave anything you are unsure about.
2. 2

   Report the spam ones

   An account that sends spam in replies or DMs is worth a report as well as a removal. The Report option sits in the same more menu, per X’s control your experience page.
3. 3

   Filter them out of your notifications

   Go to Notifications, then Settings (the gear in the app), then Advanced filters, and tick new accounts and default profile photos. Turn on the Quality filter too. This hides them without removing anyone.
4. 4

   Use a bulk tool only if you must

   X has no bulk remove. Third-party tools that offer it need access to your account. Give the least access you can and revoke it afterwards, as X explains in its connected apps guide.

Does removing bots or inactive followers change your reach?

There is no evidence it does. X does not say so anywhere in its Help Center, and the open-source code behind the For You feed, xai-org/x-algorithm, does not describe any penalty for who follows you. Here is what that code does read, and whether a bot follower touches it:

From the xai-org/x-algorithm README (Phoenix ranking, Thunder, agatha, user-cred-v2 and the new-author boost), checked October 12, 2026. Some labeling rules are not published, so this is what the public code shows, not a guarantee about every internal system.

So a purge will not do much for reach. The real reasons to remove bots are smaller. Your follower count matches your real audience. Engagement rates per follower become numbers you can trust. And you see fewer spam accounts in your replies and notifications.

If your reach dropped suddenly, look for a limit before you blame your followers. The free shadowban checker tests whether your posts still show up in search and replies. And if your feed is full of the same spam that follows you, the steps in how to reset your X algorithm clean that side up.

What grows reach is people who read and reply. ClimbX drafts posts in your voice, based on what works for accounts a few times your size. It also finds posts in your niche worth replying to. You write the final version and post it yourself.

Frequently asked questions