Blogger Cyprian Nyakundi, KFCB CEO Ezekiel Mutua and social media influencer Xtian Dela have lost a significant number of Twitter followers after Twitter locked accounts whose activities they say are have changed over time.
Twitter announced that most people would only lose four or fewer followers while those with larger follower counts will experience a more significant drop.
Nyakundi who had a little over 1 million followers now has 696,000 followers, NRG radio presenter Dela was left with 521,000 followers while the moral policeman Ezekiel was left with a meager 34,000 followers up from 106,000.
“This week, we’ll be removing these locked accounts from follower counts across profiles globally. As a result, the number of followers displayed on many profiles may go down,” Twitter said in a blog post.
But Twitter has clarified that locked accounts are different from bots saying that the latter ‘exhibit spammy behavior from the beginning and can be automatically shut down with our technology.’
The locked accounts on the other hand were created by real people but Twitter cannot confirm that the original person who opened the account still has control and access to it.
Also making it on the list of losers is TV Reality star, Kim Kardashian West who lost at least 2 million follower accounts leaving her with 58.5 million followers.
US President Donald Trump was no exception as he lost at least 300,000 followers. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto lost 15,411 and 6949 respectively.
Also hit by the purge is BBC reporter Larry Madowo who lost 7,835 followers with his counterpart from Citizen TV Jeff Koinange losing a little over 11,000 followers.
Human Rights activist Boniface Mwangi was also on the losing side having lost 3,331 follower accounts, political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi lost 6,995 and ODM party leader Raila Odinga lost 10,698 followers.
Secretary Digital Innovations and Diaspora Communications Dennis Itumbi also felt the heat after he reportedly lost well over 6,481 follower accounts, former TV personality Julie Gichuru is left with 1 million followers after losing 8,383 followers.
Ushahidi and Mzalendo co-founder Ory Okolloh Mwangi, reports indicate lost 2,326.
Twitter also says that the aim of this exercise which could affect some is to ensure everyone can have confidence in their followers.
Read: MPs Reject Bill Setting Presidential Age Limit
“Our ongoing work to improve the health of conversations on Twitter encompasses all aspects of our service. This specific update is focused on followers because it is one of the most visible features on our service and often associated with account credibility,” Twitter added.
The aforementioned social media users are paid good money to post content on their Twitter pages. The high number of followers translate into influence and reach.
Once the #TwitterPurge hits our ‘celebs’ rate cards will be massacred. We were tired of the lies anyway …
It’s about time
— Social Experiment (@MediaMK) July 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/6BillionPeople/status/1017496227250950144
https://twitter.com/OfficialEGO/status/1017497670829649921
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