Follower counts fluctuate: Twitter replies to Rahul Gandhi

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Twitter spox on Rahul Gandhi’s letter to Twitter stating that the number of his followers are seeing a drop:

>> “Follower counts are a visible feature and we want everyone to have confidence that numbers are meaningful and accurate. Twitter has zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and spam.

>> We fight spam and malicious automation strategically and at scale with machine learning tools, and as part of those consistent and ongoing efforts to ensure a healthy service and credible accounts, follower counts can and do fluctuate.

>> We remove millions of accounts each week for violating our policies on platform manipulation and spam. You can take a look at latest Twitter Transparency Center update for more context.

>>While some accounts notice minor differences, in certain cases the numbers could be higher.”

Twitter has been “unwittingly complicit” in curbing free speech in India, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote to the company’s CEO Parag Agrawal last month.

In a letter dated December 27 that included an analysis of data from his Twitter account as well as comparisons with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Rahul Gandhi said that while he added an average of about 4 lakh followers for the first seven months of 2021, the growth came to an abrupt halt for several months following an eight-day suspension in August last year.