Progressive Twitter Accounts Lose Thousands Of Followers As Right-Wingers Gain – What’s Going On?

Some are calling it the “Musk effect,” and if it’s indicative of what we can expect on Twitter after Elon Musk actually completes his purchase of the social media platform, you can expect lots of controversy and even lawsuits.

NBC News notes that many progressive Twitter accounts have seen the loss of thousands of followers since Musk made his offer to buy the platform formal on Monday:

Twitter has been flooded with user reports of high-profile accounts losing thousands of followers after news broke that Tesla CEO Elon Musk would purchase the social network. The company said Tuesday that the “fluctuations in follower counts” came from “organic” account closures.

Some accounts on the political right, including that of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., saw their follower counts skyrocket.

Greene, who boasted 539,000 followers the day before news of Musk’s takeover, had 632,000 followers by Tuesday evening.

Organic account closures? Did that many people decide to ditch their Twitter accounts just because Musk came up with the $44 billion he needed for the purchase?

In a statement, Twitter had this to say:

“While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely be a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation.”

Here’s a few major accounts that saw the biggest losses:

• Former President Barack Obama — the most followed Twitter user — lost more than 300,000 followers
• Pop star Katy Perry saw her follower count drop by 200,000

Meanwhile conservatives were practically crowing as their numbers increased dramatically, with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) noting:

“It really is something how conservative accounts are getting massive follower increases today.”

However, Congressman Gaetz neglected to mention that he probably won’t be tweeting much if he’s indicted, tried, and found guilty of sexually trafficking a minor. Social media isn’t allowed in prison.

Oh, and while Musk may have begun the process of acquiring Twitter, Tesla stock took a major dive, tanking and costing the company $126 billion in value. Maybe Elon Musk isn’t as great of a businessman as he claims.