Conservative Twitter users on Wednesday claim that they've lose thousands of followers in what appears to be an overnight purge of bot accounts.
Many well-known conservative and alt-right Twitter users reported losing hundreds or thousands or users overnight, with some claiming that their own accounts were temporarily restricted for "unusual activity."
Whoa! Looks like twitter just did another purge, I'm down 2.2k now. #TwitterLockout[1]
— The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) February 21, 2018[2]
I woke this morning to find that my Twitter account was locked and I had lost over 3,000 followers in a matter of hours.#TwitterLockOut[3]
— Mark Pantano (@TheMarkPantano) February 21, 2018[4]
Folks, many of the followers you may have lost in the overnight "purge" may actually just be from Twitter locking some accounts until they confirm their identities. As these people confirm, your lost followers return. We'll see. I've already gained back 1200 this morning.
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) February 21, 2018[5]
Twitter told The Verge[6] when asked for comment: "Twitter's tools are apolitical, and we enforce our rules without political bias. As part of our ongoing work in safety, we identify suspicious account behaviors that indicate automated activity or violations of our policies around having multiple accounts, or abuse.
"We also take action on any accounts we find that violate our terms of service, including asking account owners to confirm a phone number so we can confirm a human is behind it. That's why some people may be experiencing suspensions or locks. This is part of our ongoing, comprehensive efforts to make Twitter safer and healthier for everyone."
However, many conservatives who lost followers contend that the social media site has targeted users for their political views.
The fact that the Left is mocking those who have been affected by #TwitterLockOut[7] is proof that they only targeted Conservatives.
— Mark Pantano (@TheMarkPantano) February 21, 2018[8]
Twitter is currently purging the followers on conservative accounts only. I just lost 3000 followers in one minute. Check out the trending hashtag to confirm that it is ONLY conservative accounts that are being affected.
Holding for an explanation...#twitterlockout[9]
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) February 21, 2018[10]
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References
- ^ #TwitterLockout (twitter.com)
- ^ February 21, 2018 (twitter.com)
- ^ #TwitterLockOut (twitter.com)
- ^ February 21, 2018 (twitter.com)
- ^ February 21, 2018 (twitter.com)
- ^ The Verge (www.theverge.com)
- ^ #TwitterLockOut (twitter.com)
- ^ February 21, 2018 (twitter.com)
- ^ #twitterlockout (twitter.com)
- ^ February 21, 2018 (twitter.com)