Some Twitter users may already be running for the hills following the acquisition of the social media platform by Elon Musk. Some major accounts have seen fluctuations in the number of their followers, with far-right conservatives gaining followers while popular Democrats such as former US President Barack Obama losing followers. “We are looking at recent fluctuations in the number of followers,” the Twitter communications office wrote in an e-mail. “While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which may affect the number of followers, these fluctuations appear to be largely due to increased new account creation and deactivation.” The social network will continue to look at the fluctuations in the number of followers, according to Twitter. Former President Obama lost more than 300,000 fans overnight, according to NBC News. Katy Perry, the third most-followed Twitter account, lost more than 200,000 followers after it was announced Monday that the richest man in the world had just bought the social networking platform. On the other hand, Donald Trump Jr. noted the sudden increase in his popularity on Twitter. On Tuesday, he wrote on Twitter that he gained 87,000 new followers in one day. The former president’s son suggested that the number of his new followers may be due to Twitter lifting an alleged shadow ban on some accounts before the “new [management] he is coming in “, he wrote. Right-wing figures have long accused Twitter of suppressing access to their accounts by imposing a “shadow ban” on some of their posts to reduce their visibility. “Shadow Banning seems to be another ‘right conspiracy theory’ that was 100% true,” Trump Jr. later added. Other notable increases in the number of followers included right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who saw her number drop from 539,000 the day before the news of Musk’s acquisition to 632,000 by Tuesday night, according to NBC News. Note that her personal account is still suspended, but she saw the jump of followers on her official account in Congress. On Monday, Twitter announced that it had entered into a final deal to be acquired by Musk in a deal worth about $ 44 billion. Tesla CEO has been playing with the idea of buying Twitter for weeks, sparking a debate on free speech on the social networking platform. On March 25, Musk polled his 86.4 million followers on whether or not they believed Twitter adhered to the principles of free speech. After the acquisition, Musk went on to narrate free speech. He first urged his “worst critics” to stay on Twitter because “it means freedom of speech” and then he was apparently shocked by the reaction of these critics when he wrote on Twitter: “The extreme reaction of antibodies from those who fear freedom of speech says it all. “ The acquisition of Twitter by Musk provoked the reaction of left-wing users of the platform who fear that his leadership may help further spread misinformation on the Internet. Whether some of these users chose to leave the platform as a sign of protest or despair remains to be seen.
