After Musk Twitter Buyout, Look Whose Accounts Are Suddenly Growing and Whose Are Shrinking
Many wondered how Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter would impact the way the social media giant operated.
In only a few days, major Twitter accounts have seen massive fluctuations in their number of followers.
The interesting pattern emerging in the data is while the number of followers are dropping for Democrats, followers for Republicans are increasing.
For example, in a single day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gained over 96,500 followers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lost over 13,000.
Twitter user Christopher Bouzy, founder and CEO of technology company Bot Sentinel Inc. shared the trend in his feed.
?Exclusive: Over the past 24 hours, Democrats have experienced a significant decrease in followers, while Republicans have experienced a significant increase in followers… pic.twitter.com/jOg0or4bKS
— Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) April 26, 2022
It wasn’t just American politicians, but also members of the press and international leaders. The same trend continued when he looked at media hosts from Fox News versus MSNBC hosts.
Bouzy saw sudden increases for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who often deviates from the globalist agenda.
In other tweets, Bouzy made it clear he is in the anti-Elon contingent.
I recently told Wired if Musk acquired Twitter, the platform would become a cesspool of mis- and disinformation with real-world consequences. What we have witnessed over the past 24 hours is why I was concerned.https://t.co/zSjTB0sRlO
— Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) April 26, 2022
The left is traumatized by the idea people with different opinions have a right to communicate as well.
But even a partisan like Bouzy is suspicious at the sudden shifts. He did not accept Twitter’s statements on the situation.
Twitter released a statement suggesting all of the activity is organic. We are still investigating, but it doesn’t appear to be the case.
— Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) April 27, 2022
Other Twitter veterans questioned the shifts as well.
Seeing a lot of conservative accounts hitting new highs. Definitely there was a cap or throttle on followers for certain accounts. This ain’t normal. I’ve seen big days on twitter. I live on this site. Never been anything like what’s happening.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) April 27, 2022
Why are these numbers changing so dramatically?
According to Newsweek, Twitter claimed the collapsing Democrat numbers and spiking Republican gains were “organic” account activations and closures. “While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely be a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation,” the company said in a statement.
The idea Twitter advanced is so many people are either repulsed or excited by Musk’s $44 billion takeover purchase, individual decisions are driving the swing of the pendulum.
That probably does account for some of the followers. Unhappy progressives saying they will quit Twitter has become the new, “If my candidate does not win, I will move to Canada.” It’s usually an empty threat, but some are probably going through with the cancellation. It’s much easier to deactivate an account than to move to another country.
Conservatives returning to a platform which suppressed them could add followers for Republicans. Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin made their return to the platform — among others.
Perhaps there are other factors driving the changes in followers as well.
Twitter was long suspected of capping and shadow banning conservative accounts. At the same time, it was assumed Democratic and progressive talking points were inflated by bots and fake accounts.
The shifts in followers could be evidence of the end of the throttling of conservative accounts and removal of some bots. Perhaps Twitter employees are doing a little desperate housecleaning before the new boss arrives.
The potential scandal here is bigger than just the egos of the blue checks on the Twitter platform. There may be crimes committed by these shady practices, such as misrepresenting site traffic to paid advertisers.
The biggest loss for the left though could be the end of the bandwagon persuasion technique. Adding phony followers and communications gave Democrats a propaganda victory, making them look much more popular than they are in reality. They fear exposure.
Musk advocated in the past not only for free speech, but also for transparency. It will interesting to see what happens once his ownership is official.
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