Twitter begins purging spam accounts, followers count might drop: Elon Musk

In a recent development, the social media platform Twitter has initiated purging spam/scam accounts, the new Twitter chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Friday. The development comes at the heels of a slew of measures suggested by the new Twitter chief following his takeover of the social media platform.

In a tweet, Musk said on Friday, “Twitter is purging a lot of spam/scam accounts right now, so you may see your follower count drop.”

Prior to acquiring the social media platform, Musk had been in contention with former Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal regarding the spam accounts in the social media platform. Musk had alleged that the social media platform was misrepresenting the actual number of bot accounts on its platforms, which he said were more than 5%. 

Following this in July, he backed out of the Twitter deal citing the inability by the social media platform to reveal the actual number of fake accounts which prompted the social media company to sue him in the U.S. Delaware Court of Chancery.

Moreover, in August this year, amidst the legal tussle between Twitter and Musk, a whistleblower named Peiter Zatko, who served as the former security chief at Twitter, alleged that the social media platform gives priority to user growth over fake accounts on the platform. Raising security issues, Zatko said that around half of Twitter's servers are running out of date.

Meanwhile, the social media platform suspended the Twitter account of Hollywood singer and rapper Kanye West, citing violations of Twitter guidelines against incitement of violence. West’s account was reinstated in October this year. In a tweet, Musk said, “I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement of violence. Account will be suspended.” 

Last month, Musk hinted at providing amnesty to the suspended accounts. He launched an amnesty poll on Twitter, asking the users if the social media platform offers a general amnesty to suspended accounts.

Ever since he acquired the microblogging platform, Musk has been on a mission to make Twitter the most accurate source of information. 

Following his takeover of the social platform, he introduced a content moderation council but blamed a large coalition of political/social activist groups for breaking the deal for the moderation council.

Moreover, in order to curtail the prevalence of fake accounts, Musk plans to introduce a new verification system this month. The Twitter Blue Tick subscription was slated to be rolled out in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK for $8 every month beginning November. However, Musk has put an indefinite hold on its launch, saying the pause will be in effect until there is high confidence in stopping impersonation. 

On Thursday, Twitter, in its monthly compliance report, said that it banned as many as 44,611 accounts in India between September 26 and October 25, in line with the country’s new information technology rules for promoting child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity amongst others.