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Chronicles

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Study of 100 popular Twitter accounts: two days after Twitter accepted Elon Musk's bid, conservatives gained 17,229 followers on average and liberals lost 6,062

that's nearly 25 times its daily average of +550 new followers. https://twitter.com/... Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D / @rvawonk : Lauren Boebert has gained more than 43,000 followers since yesterday — that's more than 16 times her daily average of +2600 followers. https://twitter.com/... Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D / @rvawonk : I'm looking at follower counts among influential right-wing and left-wing Twitter accounts, and it appears that Matt Gaetz has gained more than 21,000 new followers since yesterday — far more than his daily average of +1300. https://twitter.com/... Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D / @rvawonk : Donald Trump Jr. has gained more than 87,000 followers since yesterday — that's nearly 20 times his daily average of +4500. https://twitter.com/... David Sirota / @davidsirota : trying to not go insane watching the entire American media elite spend all of their time discussing Twitter follower counts and other social media horseshit as scientists scream that the livable ecosystem is ending https://www.france24.com/... Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D / @rvawonk : Ron DeSantis has gained more than 96,000 new followers since yesterday — nearly 18 times his daily average of +5406 new followers. https://twitter.com/... Chrissy Stroop / @c_stroop : Turns out there's more going on with the wild shifts in follower counts than a bot purge. The Musk effect is real https://www.theverge.com/... Will Cain / @willcain : In the past 24 hours many of us have seen proof of shadow banning, which I guess is now ending, as our follower counts spike. Confirming suspicions we were artificially muted. But did we know that other accounts, who are now losing followers, were being artificially inflated? Joseph Mallozzi / @barondestructo : This theory feels like a pretty shaky assumption: “The shifts are unlikely to be the result of changes within Twitter's management of the platform, as the deal will not close for months and Musk has not had time to directly affect operations.” https://twitter.com/... @esaagar : A friends theory: The reason we see crazy explosions/reductions of follower counts for GOP/Dem figures is because the Twitter product was locked down for external access yesterday and they can no longer actively manipulate... @conspirator0 : First, the followers are (probably) not bots. We found no evidence of widespread automation (or for that matter, astroturfing behaviors like coordinated retweeting that frequently get mistaken for bots). Twitter reached a similar conclusion: https://twitter.com/... Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D / @rvawonk : On his personal account, Matt Gaetz has gained nearly 25,000 new followers since yesterday — that's more than 22 times his daily average of +1165 new followers. https://twitter.com/... Angus Johnston / @studentactivism : In the first 18 hours after the Musk announcement, I thought it was plausible that the decline in followers I was seeing was a result of bot/inactive user purges. At this point it seems clear that it at least some of it is the result of people leaving. https://twitter.com/... Grant Stinchfield / @stinchfield1776 : I'm up 1500! @elonmusk please make public the code used to censor conservatives. We deserve to see it! https://twitter.com/... Sara A. Carter / @saracarterdc : It's happening across the board - me too https://twitter.com/...

The Verge Corin Faife

Discussion

  • @tycardon Tyler Carditis on x
    Definitely something bizarre happening with the Twitter algorithm impacting follower counts over the past 24-48 hours. A few examples: @TuckerCarlson +62,083 (today) @JoeRogan +63,313 (48 hours) @DonaldJTrumpJr +87,296 (today) @tedcruz +51,405 (today) 1/ https://twitter.com/...
  • @donaldjtrumpjr Donald Trump Jr on x
    While I'm awesome and totally deserving of 87,000 new followers a day it seems that someone took the shackles off my account. Wonder if they're burning the evidence before new mgmt comes in? https://twitter.com/...
  • @markhamill Mark Hamill on x
    Weird. I just lost more than 8,000 followers in the last couple of hours. Was it something I said? https://twitter.com/...
  • @mattgaetz Matt Gaetz on x
    It really is something how conservative accounts are getting massive follower increases today....
  • @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x
    New from me: On the day Elon Musk announced his Twitter takeover, 200,000 Katy Perry followers deactivated. Marjorie Taylor Greene gained 90,000 followers. Twitter confirmed to @NBCNews: It wasn't bots. Apolitical users fled. Right-wing users joined. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
  • @fischerking64 @fischerking64 on x
    Apparently establishment friendly accounts were bleeding followers yesterday, while Cernovich gained about 10k. Most of my mutuals also gained. If trend continues - would probably indicate slow unravelling of fake accounts padding mainstream - you wouldn't do it all at once.
  • @rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
    Right-wing conspiracy theory outlet One America News Network (OANN) has gained more than 13,500 followers since yesterday — that's nearly 25 times its daily average of +550 new followers. https://twitter.com/...
  • @rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
    Lauren Boebert has gained more than 43,000 followers since yesterday — that's more than 16 times her daily average of +2600 followers. https://twitter.com/...
  • @rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
    I'm looking at follower counts among influential right-wing and left-wing Twitter accounts, and it appears that Matt Gaetz has gained more than 21,000 new followers since yesterday — far more than his daily average of +1300. https://twitter.com/...
  • @rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
    Donald Trump Jr. has gained more than 87,000 followers since yesterday — that's nearly 20 times his daily average of +4500. https://twitter.com/...
  • @davidsirota David Sirota on x
    trying to not go insane watching the entire American media elite spend all of their time discussing Twitter follower counts and other social media horseshit as scientists scream that the livable ecosystem is ending https://www.france24.com/...
  • @rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
    Ron DeSantis has gained more than 96,000 new followers since yesterday — nearly 18 times his daily average of +5406 new followers. https://twitter.com/...
  • @c_stroop Chrissy Stroop on x
    Turns out there's more going on with the wild shifts in follower counts than a bot purge. The Musk effect is real https://www.theverge.com/...
  • @willcain Will Cain on x
    In the past 24 hours many of us have seen proof of shadow banning, which I guess is now ending, as our follower counts spike. Confirming suspicions we were artificially muted. But did we know that other accounts, who are now losing followers, were being artificially inflated?
  • @barondestructo Joseph Mallozzi on x
    This theory feels like a pretty shaky assumption: “The shifts are unlikely to be the result of changes within Twitter's management of the platform, as the deal will not close for months and Musk has not had time to directly affect operations.” https://twitter.com/...
  • @esaagar @esaagar on x
    A friends theory: The reason we see crazy explosions/reductions of follower counts for GOP/Dem figures is because the Twitter product was locked down for external access yesterday and they can no longer actively manipulate...
  • @conspirator0 @conspirator0 on x
    First, the followers are (probably) not bots. We found no evidence of widespread automation (or for that matter, astroturfing behaviors like coordinated retweeting that frequently get mistaken for bots). Twitter reached a similar conclusion: https://twitter.com/...
  • @rvawonk Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D on x
    On his personal account, Matt Gaetz has gained nearly 25,000 new followers since yesterday — that's more than 22 times his daily average of +1165 new followers. https://twitter.com/...
  • @studentactivism Angus Johnston on x
    In the first 18 hours after the Musk announcement, I thought it was plausible that the decline in followers I was seeing was a result of bot/inactive user purges. At this point it seems clear that it at least some of it is the result of people leaving. https://twitter.com/...
  • @stinchfield1776 Grant Stinchfield on x
    I'm up 1500! @elonmusk please make public the code used to censor conservatives. We deserve to see it! https://twitter.com/...
  • @saracarterdc Sara A. Carter on x
    It's happening across the board - me too https://twitter.com/...