Twitter-Follower Policy Results in Celebs Losing Millions of Followers
As Twitter begins rolling out its new policy of not including "locked" accounts in follower counts, many of our favorite celebrities have been affected.
As Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's legal, policy and trust and safety lead, said in a blog post, "Follower counts are a visible feature, and we want everyone to have confidence that the numbers are meaningful and accurate. Over the years, we’ve locked accounts when we detected sudden changes in account behavior. In these situations, we reach out to the owners of the accounts, and unless they validate the account and reset their passwords, we keep them locked with no ability to log in. This week, we’ll be removing these locked accounts from follower counts across profiles globally. As a result, the number of followers displayed on many profiles may go down."
The average Twitter user likely wouldn't have noticed a drastic change in their follower tally, but celebrities like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift, have been noticeably affected. According to TIME, Katy has lost 1.5 million Twitter followers, while Justin and Taylor have each lost 2 million followers. Even Barack Obama and Donald Trump were affected, with Obama losing a reported 2 million followers, and Trump losing 340,000 followers.
Other celebrities, including Rihanna and Lady Gaga were also affected, with the pop stars losing two million followers each, Variety noted. And according to USA Today, Kim Kardashian lost 1.7 million followers. The decision also impacted Twitter's profile on the site, with BBC News reporting that the social media platform lost 7.7 million followers of its own.
Although the follower counts of many celebrities have already been affected by the move, Gadde explained in the company's blog post that the change would be ongoing. "Follower counts may continue to change more regularly as part of our ongoing work to proactively identify and challenge problematic accounts," she wrote. "This is another step to improve Twitter and ensure everyone can have confidence in their followers."
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