No, the ZIP file Instagram sends you does not include a list of people who unfollowed you. It has no history of your incoming follows at all, only a record of who follows you right now, at the moment you requested it. One file inside the export sounds like it should answer the question and gets mistaken for exactly that, but it tracks something else entirely.
The File That Gets Mistaken for an Unfollowers List
Inside the export sits recently_unfollowed_profiles.json, right next to your followers and following files, and the name matches what most people are searching for almost exactly. It is easy to open it expecting a list of who left you. What it actually contains is a short, Instagram-maintained log of accounts you unfollowed, not accounts that unfollowed you. It records your own outbound actions, and it says nothing about anyone else's.
What's Actually Inside the Export
The full picture, covered in more depth in what's actually inside your Instagram data download, is a small handful of files, current as of September 2026:
- followers_1.json: everyone who currently follows you
- following.json: everyone you currently follow
- pending_follow_requests.json: requests you have sent that have not been accepted
- recently_unfollowed_profiles.json: a short log of who you recently unfollowed, not who unfollowed you
None of these is a change log of your incoming followers over time. Each one is a snapshot of the current state, taken the moment you requested the export.
Why the Export Doesn't Include Incoming Unfollows
This isn't a missing feature so much as a consistent pattern. Instagram's own Help Center confirms unfollowing sends no notification to either person, current as of September 2026, and the data export follows the same pattern: it hands you your current state, not a change log of what happened to get there. Not including a retrievable history of incoming unfollows in the export lines up with the same quiet-by-default approach Instagram takes to unfollowing everywhere else in the product.
The Method That Actually Shows Who Unfollowed You
Since no single export contains the answer, the fix is to take two of them. Request your Instagram data (Instagram's Help Center walks through the export request itself), choose JSON over HTML so the follow timestamps come through, and save the file as a baseline. A few weeks later, request a second export. Anyone whose username appears in the first followers file but is missing from the second unfollowed you somewhere in between.
You do not have to compare the two files by hand. Upload both to WhoUnfollowed and it reads them locally in your browser, matches the two lists, and shows you the exact names that dropped off, in about two seconds. No password, nothing sent to a server, the same standard covered in how to see who unfollowed you on Instagram.
In Short
- A single Instagram data export never contains a list of people who unfollowed you, only your current followers and following at the moment you requested it.
- recently_unfollowed_profiles.json tracks accounts you unfollowed, not accounts that unfollowed you, despite the name suggesting otherwise.
- The export does not include a retrievable history of incoming unfollows anywhere in it, matching Instagram's refusal to notify anyone in-app when an unfollow happens.
- Comparing two dated exports, a method grounded in your right to your own data under GDPR Article 20, is the only reliable way to see exactly who left.
