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| - Fact Check: 'Messi's Magic' gave PSG's Insta a boost, but it didn't double its followers
Several netizens are claiming that the Instagram follower count of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club has doubled within 24 hours of LionelMessi joining it.
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India Today Fact Check
PSG did garner a couple million followers after the news of Messi joining the club broke, but the count didn’t double.
The legendary Argentinian footballer, Lionel Messi recently ended his 21-year association with the Spanish football club, Barcelona and joined France's Paris Saint-Germain.
Ever since his move to PSG, several netizens are claiming that the Instagram follower count of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (PSG) has doubled within 24 hours of Messi joining it.
Two screenshots of PSG’s Instagram profile — one with 19.8 million and the other with 40.2 million followers — are viral on the internet with the claim. It is being said that the first screenshot shows the number of PSG’s Instagram followers before Messi’s joining the team, whereas the second one shows the follower count 24 hours after the big announcement.
Sharing these screenshots, a Facebook user wrote, “PSG followers before and after signing Messi. 20.2M followers in 24 hours. Leo Messi is bigger than the club. (sic)”
The archived version of this post can be seen here.
India Today Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that though the follower count of PSG’s Instagram page increased by around 3.4 million just 24 hours after Messi’s joining the club, it didn’t, however, double in number.
AFWA probe
Messi signed a two-year contract with the French football club Paris Saint-Germain on the night of August 10.
In order to find the truth behind the numbers, we used different online tools to get to the root of it.
PSG had around 38.8 mn Insta followers before the deal
According to the historical data provided by ‘Socialblade’, PSG had around 38.8 million followers on Instagram a day before (August 9) the announcement of Messi’s signing. On the day the deal was signed (August 10), the total follower count rose to around 41 million. Subsequently, on August 11, the follower count kept rising and came to around 44.4 million.
This data establishes that around 24 hours after Messi signing the deal, PSG’s Instagram follower count increased by around 3.4 million.
As on August 13, PSG has around 46 million Instagram followers (and counting), which comes to around an addition of 7 million new followers ever since Messi joined the club. Thus, the claims of followers doubling are baseless.
PSG in 2019: 21 million followers
Using Followerstat, we were able to fetch almost two-year old follower count data of PSG's Instagram account. We found that PSG had around 21 million followers in 2019 itself.
In the viral screenshot, it is claimed that PSG had 19.8 million followers 24 hours before Messi joined the French FC. This means that the alleged ‘pre-deal' screenshot of PSG’s Instagram profile showing 19.8 million followers is morphed.
With two different tools pointing towards the same result, we can indeed be sure that there is no basis in the fact that PSG’s Instagram follower count doubled after Messi’s joining. A morphed screenshot of PSG’s ‘pre-contract’ Instagram follower count is being shared to falsely claim that the number of Instagram followers of PSG doubled 24 hours after Messi’s joining.
About Messi
Often addressed as the GOAT (Greatest of all time) by his fans, Lionel Messi had created history in 2012 when he created a world record by scoring 91 goals.
It is interesting to know that Messi’s first contract with FC Barcelona was signed on a paper napkin in the year 2000, as per this ESPN report.
He was only 13 years old when Barcelona executive Carles Rexach spotted him during a trial and thought that he was "too good to let go".
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