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Instagram Following API

List every account a public Instagram profile follows, page after page, for a handle, a profile URL or a numeric user id.

GET /v2/instagram/profiles/{profile}/following

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About this endpoint

GET /v2/instagram/profiles/{profile}/following takes a handle (with or without @), a profile URL or a numeric user id. It returns the accounts that profile follows, in the order Instagram lists them. Read data.lookupStatus first (found, private or not_found), then data.accounts. Each account is the same profile summary every v2 endpoint uses: id, handle, displayName, avatarUrl, verified and privateAccount, always present and null when Instagram doesn't say.

When data.page.hasMore is true, pass data.page.nextCursor as the cursor query param on the next call; the list runs to its end. Each page is billed once, so read meta.creditsCharged rather than estimating from the following count. Use it to map who a brand, creator or competitor follows, to find collaborators and affiliates, or to seed profile lookups: feed a returned id or handle into GET /v2/instagram/profiles/{profile} for bio and counts. meta.version is v2.

Instagram Following API FAQ

How do I list who an Instagram account follows via API?

Call GET /v2/instagram/profiles/{profile}/following with your Social Fetch API key (x-api-key) and a handle, profile URL or numeric user id in the path. Read data.lookupStatus, then data.accounts, and keep following data.page.nextCursor while data.page.hasMore is true. See the API docs for parameters and examples.

How much does the Instagram Following API cost?

Pricing is documented on the operation in the API registry (shown on this page). Confirm on every response with meta.creditsCharged — that field is the billing source of truth. Each paginated page is a separate billed request.

How many accounts come back per page?

A page holds a fixed batch of accounts, in the order Instagram lists them. The last page can be shorter, and data.page.hasMore is false on it. An account that follows nobody comes back as found with an empty accounts list.

Can I page through the whole list?

Yes. Pass data.page.nextCursor as cursor until data.page.hasMore is false. The cursor is opaque and ties the next page to the same profile, so pass back the exact value you received. An unrecognised cursor is a 400 bad_request.

What happens for private or missing accounts?

A private account returns lookupStatus: private with an empty accounts list, and an unknown profile returns not_found. Both come back as a normal 200 response and are billed as a lookup; only public accounts' following lists are returned.

Can I list an Instagram account's followers instead?

Not on this route. Instagram only shows a small sample of an account's followers, so Social Fetch lists the accounts a profile follows, not the accounts that follow it. Follower counts are on the profile (GET /v2/instagram/profiles/{profile}).

Do I need Instagram Graph API access to read who an account follows?

No. Social Fetch returns the following list Instagram shows publicly for any public account. Meta's Instagram Graph API is for accounts you manage or that grant your app access, and it doesn't list who another account follows.

Other Instagram endpoints