In the last several days, many Twitter users have been noticing that their follower counts have dropped significantly:
So I have actually lost 30k followers in 4 hours? Is that even possible? Parler iced? Is this to please @JoeBiden? Does he know what Twitter is ?
— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) January 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1347950788589486081
I don’t mind losing followers I just prefer to do it the fun way by tweeting something that makes everyone mad
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 9, 2021
As of now, I'm down 5200 followers since the purge began.
— James Lindsay, king of your mom (@ConceptualJames) January 9, 2021
The avalanche of people asking what’s happening caused Twitter to put this out to “clear up confusion”:
To clear up confusion about fluctuations in follower counts:
In order to prevent spam, we regularly challenge accounts to confirm details like email and phone number. Until that info is confirmed, these accounts aren’t included in follower counts. https://t.co/8BYcBCmxxA
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) January 9, 2021
Ironically, Twitter’s attempt to clear up confusion ended up causing more of it, with some skepticism thrown in the mix as well:
I'm curious. Can you show us the accounts you're challenging?
— Pam (@lifebythecreek) January 9, 2021
Is this only conservative accounts? How do I sign up for the liberal treatment?
— Breanna Morello ?? (@breannamorello) January 9, 2021
Funny. Because I was removed as a follower to multiple accounts today and I wasn’t asked to confirm anything.
— Christopher C. Smith (@ChristopherCSm4) January 9, 2021
You can go to https://t.co/LBYpinlsc5 to see the follow/unfollow changes of your own or anybody else’s accounts. I’ll be spending time today studying how these “spam prevention” efforts affected conservatives vs. liberals. Surely the results should be similar & consistent, right? https://t.co/OGKlqF0Svj
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) January 9, 2021
I lost 48,000 followers/donors. That does not make sense. I assist veterans in crisis and in need on this platform in real time. This is absolutely unacceptable!
— Code of Vets ™ (@codeofvets) January 9, 2021
Just on certain accounts though … lol https://t.co/68xzd8S4MX
— The?FOO (@PolitiBunny) January 9, 2021
If you regularly do this why its it only showing now? https://t.co/XRJhkikOBK
— jeffswarens (@jeffswarens) January 9, 2021
Suffice to say, not everybody’s buying Twitter’s explanation.
Tens of thousands of accounts at once is not regular maintenance.
Twitter lies. https://t.co/MEJ2hEC7qL
— Katica ?? (@GOPPollAnalyst) January 9, 2021
??? what a load of donkey shit! That’s correct, Donkey Shit ?
You have removed 125,000 of my followers since January 6th 2021. That’s 125K in 3 days ??? https://t.co/0y7k9a40dX
— Kristy Swanson (@KristySwansonXO) January 9, 2021
ⓘ ???????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ?????????? https://t.co/3hV532E3Eq
— Suz ☀️?? @ImNotOnParler (@SunSuzSunTzuing) January 9, 2021
— I Yam What I Yam (@Nvr4Get91101) January 9, 2021
