Wow that's really shitty. Absolute control. I see why you're not a fan.
Strangely my current growth is slower than when I was a camera newbie. I post much better photos now, but get less follows. I spend a lot of time blocking bots and shadow accounts. Any account that follows me that has zero posts, a random number at the end of their handle, and a nonsensical bio, is an automatic block. I only have 5k followers, so most of the time it's a manageable task.
I just use it as a portfolio and not much else. It was more important to me when I did work for state tourism bodies etc ; but now with the pandemic all that has dried up so its irrelevant to me.