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Twitter: Follower fluctuations after Musk sale were ‘organic’

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The future of Twitter under Elon Musk remains uncertain after the billionaire’s offer to purchase the company for $44 billion was accepted earlier this week. Twitter said it has seen numerous cases of fluctuations in follower counts on the platform after the deal was announced.

“We’ve been looking into recent fluctuations in follower counts,” Twitter said in a statement. “While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely have been a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation. We’ll continue looking into these follower count fluctuations.”

Twitter users noticed Tuesday the surprising spike and notable decrease of followers for high-profile accounts. Many conservative users attributed the rapidly changing follower counts to Musk’s purchase of the platform.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), whose personal Twitter account was banned from the platform, gained nearly 100,000 followers on her official government account. Former U.S. President Barack Obama, however, lost more than 300,000 followers. 

The deactivations came as some users expressed fear that Musk’s approach to free speech will lead to changes in content moderation policies.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk tweeted shortly after Twitter accepted Musk’s offer.

ELON MUSK HAS TAKEN OVER TWITTER

AND IS TAKING IT PRIVATE

BUT AFTER JUST ONE DAY OF TECHNICALLY HOLDING THE KEYS TO THE COMPANY, THERE’S SOME “WEIRD STUFF GOING ON*

I JUST CHECKED MY ACCOUNT – AND EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE FINE AND DANDY. BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE LOSING AND GAINING FOLLOWERS – IN MASSES

BASED ON REPORTS – JUST A DAY AFTER THE TAKEOVER

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREEENE GAINED MORE THAN 40 THOUSAND FOLLOWERS 

AND TED CRUZ SHOT UP 50 THOUSAND PLUS FOLLOWERS

WHILE THE ACCOUNTS OF BARACK OBAMA, AOC, AND BERNIE SANDERS DROPPED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FOLLOWERS OVERNIGHT

SIMILAR REPORTS WERE SHARED ACROSS TWITTER – THE EXODUS EXTENDING BEYOND POLITICAL ACCOUNTS

DESPITE SOME WILD THEORIES -TWITTER SAYS THE FLUCTUATIONS ARE MOSTLY *ORGANIC*

MEANING A LOT OF USERS ARE LEAVING OR JOINING BASED ON THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS. YOU CAN POINT FINGERS AT THIS GUY

NO EXACT NUMBERS WERE RELEASED – BUT THE COMPANY SAYS IT’S LOOKING INTO THE ISSUE. 

BUT HEY, WITH ALL THE POTENTIAL CHANGES COMING TO TWITTER – ARE YOU STICKING WITH IT? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW