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By the numbers: Big names lose massive numbers of followers in Twitter purge

The twitter logo. Photo: Leon Neal/AFP via Getty Images

Dozens of high profile Twitter accounts from celebrities and politicians lost buckets of followers as Twitter deleted fake accounts and bots across the platform that were locked, reports CNN.

The details: Twitter removed these accounts in an effort to instill confidence and authenticity to its platform, per a blog post from Vijaya Gadde of Twitter. Accounts that were removed were locked as a result of sudden changes detected in account behavior. Most people saw a follower change of about four users, the post said, but some bigger names lost millions of followers.

Politicians:
  • President Trump lost 204,000 followers out of 53.3 million.
  • Former President Obama lost 2.4 million followers, which amounted to just 2% of his followers, per the Daily Beast.
    • Obama remains the third most followed person on the platform behind Katy Perry and Justin Bieber.
Celebrities:
  • Katy Perry, the most followed person on Twitter, lost 3 million followers but still has 107 million.
  • Justin Bieber trails Perry but lost 2.7 million followers.
  • LeBron James lost 880,000 followers.
  • Bill gates lost 900,000 followers.
  • Oprah Winfrey lost 1.4 million followers.
  • Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey lost 230,000 followers.

Go deeper

Axios
Updated 2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

  1. Health: CDC director defends agency's response to pandemic — CDC warns highly transmissible coronavirus variant could become dominant in U.S. in March.
  2. Politics: Biden readies massive shifts in policy for his first days in office.
  3. Vaccine: Fauci: 100 million doses in 100 days is "absolutely" doable.
  4. Economy: Unemployment filings explode again.
  5. Tech: Kids' screen time sees a big increase.
  6. World: WHO team arrives in China to investigate pandemic origins.
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Dave Lawler, author of World
3 hours ago - World

Alexey Navalny detained after landing back in Moscow

Navalny and his wife shortly before he was detained. Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was detained upon his return to Moscow on Sunday, which came five months after he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. He returned despite being warned that he would be arrested.

The latest: Navalny was stopped at a customs checkpoint and led away alone by officers. He appeared to hug his wife goodbye, and his spokesman reports that his lawyer was not allowed to accompany him.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Mike Allen, author of AM
5 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Biden's "overwhelming force" doctrine

President-elect Biden arrives to introduce his science team in Wilmington yesterday. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President-elect Biden has ordered up a shock-and-awe campaign for his first days in office to signal, as dramatically as possible, the radical shift coming to America and global affairs, his advisers tell us. 

The plan, Part 1 ... Biden, as detailed in a "First Ten Days" memo from incoming chief of staff Ron Klain, plans to unleash executive orders, federal powers and speeches to shift to a stark, national plan for "100 million shots" in three months.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow