From fan frenzy to follower freefall: how a few silent hours by Kohli sent social media into meltdown.
The year 2026 has just begun, but is proving to be a farewell year for big celebrities. From popular standup comedian Zakir Khan to the unofficial soul-healer of India, Arijit Singh, took retirement from the mainstream. People have been reacting to this news in their own ways. However, the real social media buzz was created when Virat Kohli’s official Instagram account became inactive. It was Friday morning when fans went restless as the official account of Virat Kohli, @virat.kohli, showed a blank page. Notably, Virat Kohli is the most followed individual in Asia with over 274 million followers. His sudden disappearance just set the social media on boil. People searched for him on different platforms and tried getting an answer. Above this, Anushka Sharma’s profile got loaded with messages and comments about Kohli’s account. But, there were no answers from the actor or Virat’s team.
Consequently, many wild theories spread over social media. As many celebrities are saying goodbye, people started believing as if Kohli is also taking a break from Instagram. Several theories concluded that it can be a marketing gimmick as well for some brand campaign, maybe he is seriously done with social media, or it is short break only. Meanwhile kept refreshing Kohli’s page and the whole situation became a mayhem. Fans searched for his handle, and all they got was, “Profile isn’t available.”
Related Read: Virat Kohli Net Worth 2026: Earnings, Assets & Investments
However, the disappearance was for a few hours probably due to some glitch. To the relief of his fans, Kohli’s account was restored on Friday itself. Some also suggested that his account was temporarily hidden for some time and not disappeared completely. Regardless of the reason, the star cricketer became the biggest talk of the town one more time. Many Kohli fans spammed Instagram with questions about the 37-year old Indian star batsman.
Close to this moment, Arijit Singh also announced his retirement from playback singing, breaking many thousands of hearts. Considering this event, fans assumed that Virat also has left social media without any trail.
But the bombshell was a significant dip in Instagram followers. The official page of photo and video sharing platform, Instagram, experienced nosediving of followers. According to the screenshot circulating on X, it dipped to 698 million from 705 million. Although, there is no concrete reason explained for this but netizens assumed that the unannounced disappearance of Virat Kohli without any further clarifications caused this downfall. However, it was soon clarified that no such thing had happened. Instagram’s followers count of 698M remained intact during and after Kohli’s brief disappearance.
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