How To Remove Followers on TikTok

Profile photo ofCarolyn Howell, author

Carolyn Howell

Last Updated: Nov 29, 2023

TikTok 101

Want More Real Tiktok Followers?

Without your followers, you won’t have a community with whom you can share your knowledge, skills, creativity, etc. You need followers on social media platforms to build a presence, grow your brand, and have your voice heard. But what if you want to rebuild your TikTok community from scratch? Or, perhaps you need to weed out fake accounts, trolls, and spammers. Keep reading to find out how to remove followers on TikTok. 

A photo of a gray metal trash bin.

How To Remove a Follower on TikTok

If you have a private personal account, knowing how to remove a follower on TikTok is crucial to maintaining your privacy. If you have a public personal account or a business account, eliminating certain individuals from your follower list may also be necessary to maintain your community’s safety and integrity. How do you remove a TikTok follower?

To remove a follower from your profile:

  1. Go to your Profile. 
  2. Tap Followers under your profile image. 
  3. Find the individual you want to remove, then tap the three dots beside their name. 
  4. Select Remove this follower.

To remove a follower from their profile:

  1. Go to the person’s profile. You can tap their profile from the comments section of your video or search for them using their username. 
  2. Tap the Share icon/arrow in the upper right. 
  3. Select Remove this follower at the bottom.

If you want to prevent a person from following you and engaging with your account in any way, you can also block them. Keep in mind that blocked accounts can still search for you on TikTok and view your profile. However, they won’t be able to see any of your profile info and videos. They also won’t be able to send you a message through your inbox.

To block an account from a video:

  1. Tap the Comments on your video. 
  2. Long-press on the profile of the person you want to remove. 
  3. Tap Manage multiple comments. 
  4. Select the person you want to remove. 
  5. Tap More, then tap Block accounts. 

To block an account from their profile:

  1. Go to the person’s profile. You can tap their profile from the comments section of your video or search for them using their username. 
  2. Tap the Share icon/arrow in the upper right. 
  3. Select Block at the bottom. 

A person in red overalls pulls a rolling trash bin.

How To Remove All Followers on TikTok

If you want a clean slate and to rebuild your community from scratch, you may wonder how to remove all followers on TikTok. Unfortunately, there’s no option to remove multiple followers or all your followers in one click. You’ll have to go through your follower list and remove them one by one. This is the only way to do it if you want to remove all your followers but keep all your videos, profile history, and information.

Take note that when you remove any of your TikTok followers, their video likes and comments will remain. You can remove their comments, but this will also be time-consuming if there are tons to delete — even with the option to manage multiple comments. You can block the accounts to remove all their engagement as well immediately.

However, you can deactivate your account if you want to delete your entire follower list to prevent them from viewing your profile and content. 

Just follow these steps:

  1. Go to your Profile and tap the Menu in the upper right. 
  2. Tap Account. 
  3. Select Deactivate or delete account. 
  4. Select Deactivate account if you want to hide it from everyone and keep all your content temporarily. You can reactivate it and recover your content anytime. 
  5. Select Delete account permanently if you don’t want any record of it and all your content on the web. You’ll have 30 days to cancel your deletion request and reactivate your account if you change your mind.

Whether you deactivate or delete your account, you can start over with a new one so you’ll have zero followers.

 Paper cutouts spell the word “GOODBYE.”

How To Remove Followers on TikTok: What Happens After?

When you remove a TikTok follower, does TikTok notify them? What happens when you remove followers?

  • TikTok does not notify the person after you remove them from your follower list or block them. 
  • You will no longer appear on their Following list. However, they won’t find out unless they go through their list to look for you. 
  • Their messages will remain in your inbox. Depending on your privacy settings and whether or not you also blocked the account, they may be unable to message you again.
  • They can follow you again if you have a private account, but you’ll have to approve their follow request. If you have a public account, they can follow you back any time — unless you block their account. 
  • Your videos may still appear on their For You feed based on their content preferences on the platform. If you block an account, they won’t be able to see any of your videos anymore. 
  • Your former followers will still be able to see your public content and information when they visit your profile. 
  • Depending on your video’s privacy settings, any former follower may still be able to engage with your content unless you block them.

A woman waves goodbye.

Building and Shaping the TikTok Community You Desire

You can control who follows you on TikTok. The quality of your followers influences the TikTok experience of everybody in your community. So removing certain followers is a great account clean-up option to maintain your desired TikTok atmosphere.

Removing followers can protect you and your friends, family, and genuine fans from people who may harass, stalk, troll, or bully you. Eliminating unwanted or nuisance individuals can make moderating your comments section easier. Depending on certain factors, removed followers may still be able to engage with you through your videos.

Knowing how to remove followers on TikTok gives you a stronger command over your community. You can also improve your audience-targeting precision to capture only the attention of the most suitable users for your content. Sign up for a High Social plan to leverage their advanced, proprietary AI-powered targeting technology. Ensure you reach genuinely interested users who will always contribute to positive engagement. Start growing your TikTok today!

TikTok 101