Maybe now they know how conservatives on Twitter feel.
After a final deal was announced Monday about billionaire Elon Musk buying Twitter, a slew of liberals came out to bemoan lost followers.
“Just lost 2000 followers. Anyone else losing followers?” Neera Tanden, a Biden nominee who withdrew and longtime supporter of Hillary Clinton, wrote on Twitter.
Just lost 2000 followers. Anyone else losing followers?
— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) April 25, 2022
Gun control activist David Hogg joined in the sobfest, saying, “Oh I thought it was just some really bad takes I posted but guess I’m not alone -3000 today.”
Oh I thought it was just some really bad takes I posted but guess I'm not alone -3000 today
— David Hogg 🌻 (@davidhogg111) April 25, 2022
“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill retweeted Tanden’s tweet, adding: “I just lost more than 8,000 followers in the last couple of hours. Was it something I said?”
Weird. I just lost more than 8,000 followers in the last couple of hours. Was it something I said? https://t.co/TS3vwDephc
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) April 25, 2022
Another Twitter user, Christopher Bouzy, wrote: “Exclusive: Over the past 24 hours, Democrats have experienced a significant decrease in followers, while Republicans have experienced a significant increase in followers…” He posted a chart not on liberals but only former President Barack Obama, which showed he lost roughly 5,000 of his 131 million followers.
🤖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
“I’m down about the same (proportionately) – around 1800. Can’t tell if it’s dead bots or people afraid that Elon will find out they were following me,” former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann tweeted.
I'm down about the same (proportionately) – around 1800. Can't tell if it's dead bots or people afraid that Elon will find out they were following me
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 25, 2022
The social media site is overrun with bots. Way back in 2017, CNBC reported that “as many as 48 million Twitter accounts aren’t people.” But Musk plans to change that. Last week, he tweeted: “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!”
If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
Conservatives are well aware of how Twitter limits their accounts. The social media giant can “shadow-ban” accounts, which means their posts don’t even appear on their followers newsfeeds. Plus, Twitter can simply purge an account’s followers and censor any content they choose by labeling it “hate speech” or “harassment.”
Other Twitter users claimed liberals’ plunging numbers were simply people shutting down accounts over Musk’s acquisition.
“Its [sic] people leaving because of Elon most likely,” one user wrote.
Others speculated that Twitter was purging bots as part of the sale.
“Its [sic] a bot purge. They have to do some due diligence for the sale. I bet having millions of fake accounts will be a problem so they are deleting,” wrote one user.
“However, largely missing from the list of users complaining about a loss of Twitter followers were conservative and right-wing accounts. In fact, a number of users in this group actually gained followers in the last 24 hours,” Fortune magazine reported. “While users like Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez all lost more than 10,000 followers overnight, according to data from social media analytics tracker SocialBlade, conservatives like Ted Cruz, Newt Gingrich, and Laura Ingraham all gained.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.