Twitter Explains Why Some Users Are Losing Followers

Twitter has shed some light that some accounts might witness “fluctuations” in follower count from time to time. The social media giant says that this may be due to the removal of existing spam profiles from the platform. Recently, several users that include Bollywood actor Anupam Kher and TV journalist Richar Kher claimed they lost hundreds of followers in a day or so. Several other users complained about this same issue earlier this month. In a post, Twitter explains that the company asks accounts (most likely arbitrarily) to verify their password or phone number. “We do this regularly to help prevent spam and keep all accounts secure,” the company noted. It essentially means that the platform checks for accounts that either project offline behaviour or acts as troll accounts, made with temporary email IDs. In a response to Deccan Herald, the company challenges users to confirm personal details. It then locks these unresponsive accounts, and the profiles are not counted in the follower count list.

Recently, actor Anupam Kher claimed that he lost nearly 80,000 followers in 36 hours. In 2018, notable actor Amitabh Bachchan echoed similar concerns and claimed that he lost several followers. However, there are cases when Twitter accounts get removed when the company drops old services from the platform. For instance, last year, Twitter decided to turn off the “Twitter via SMS service” in most countries. The decision was taken to keep users’ Twitter “account safe” after the company found vulnerabilities with the SMS service. Twitter had noted that due to the removal of this service, few users may notice a dip in their follower count. The company had implied that the removal of these inactive accounts will ensure more active and authentic followers on users’ Twitter profiles.

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