Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official Twitter account, @narendramodi witnessed a drop in followers after the social networking site announced a global crackdown on fake and automated accounts on 11 July.
PM Modi’s handle, which is the top most followed Twitter account in India, lost around 3 lakh followers within a span of 24 hours.
On Thursday, 12 July, the follower count was observed to be around 43.4 million. The number dropped to 43.1 million on Friday, 13 July.
The Twitter handle of the office of the Prime Minister of India, @PMOIndia also lost around 1 lakh followers in the last 24 hours.
‘Swachh Twitter Abhiyan’?
Twitter users were quick to notice the drop in PM Modi’s followers.
Why the Drop in Twitter Followers?
In its statement, Twitter said that over the years it has locked accounts after detecting sudden changes in account behaviour.
It further said that it will begin removing these locked accounts from the follower numbers, in a bid to offer a “meaningful and accurate” view of users’ follower count.
“This is another step to improve Twitter, and ensure everyone can have confidence in their followers,” Twitter said on 11 July.
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