Justin Bieber DELETES his Instagram account after fight with ex Selena Gomez over new girlfriend Sofia Richie

He threatened to take his Instagram page private if fans didn't stop hating on new flame Sofia Richie. But Justin Bieber took it a step further on Monday night as he deleted his Instagram account, which had 77.8 million followers.

The move came moments after the pop star had switched his account to private, before changing his mind and making his page public again moments later - and then deleting it entirely.

Setting the account private would mean that his posts are still available for his followers, but he would have to approve each individual follow request.

After setting the account private, Justin was slammed by fans in the comments, before deleting it.

'In the moment you went privat (sic) you lost many fans...' wrote one user, while another added 'and now we are leaving u.'

Another said the Sorry singer was making 'bad decisions,' while others told him to just disable the comments if he didn't want to deal with fans.

Justin's move came after he asked fans to back off when it comes to 17-year-old model Sofia - and his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez then weighed in on the comments telling him not to blame his fans.

That prompted a war of words between the pop stars, with both accusing each other of cheating and Justin hinting Selena had hooked up with former One Direction star Zayn Malik.

Justin wrote: 'I'm gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don't stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn't be so mean to people that I like.' 

Out of the blue his ex-girlfriend Selena took a swipe, exclaiming:  'If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol - it should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you.'

Things quickly ignited as Justin hit back:  'It's funny to see people that used me for attention and still trying to point the finger this way. Sad. All love. I'm not one for anyone receiving hate.'

 Justin Bieber DELETES his Instagram account after fight with ex Selena Gomez over new girlfriend Sofia Richie