Conservatives Complain Of Targeting After Twitter Starts Deleting Accounts

Many Twitter users noticed a significant drop-off on their follower count Wednesday morning, and some conservatives are crying foul. According to The Hill, Twitter started to suspend thousands of accounts in a likely attempt to remove fake accounts and bots from the platform. 

Many verified users posted about the sudden loss of followers. 

Even people who are not verified noticed the issue, and the hashtag  became a trending topic on Wednesday morning. 

Charles V Payne called on the social media company to be transparent about the "criteria for erasing followers while folks sleep."

Some people suggested the purge only targetted accounts that were suspected of being Russian bots.

While the purge is not likely targetting specific accounts based on the political views they express, many of the people complaining about the issue appear to conservatives.

Twitter responded the overnight purge in a statement to CBS News.

"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," Twitter's statement said. "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."

"Note that when an account is locked and being challenged to provide a phone number, it is removed from follower counts until it provides a phone number," the statement said. "This is part of our ongoing, comprehensive efforts to make Twitter safer and healthier for everyone."

Photo: Getty Images


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