New Delhi: Twitter users in India are expressing their dissatisfaction at a sudden dip in their following count. While some users claimed to have lost hundreds of followers in minutes, others claimed to have lost thousands of followers all at once, substantially reducing their follower numbers.
Twitter has begun reinstating its followers, although the platform has conducted a clean-up operation to remove bots and dormant accounts.
Twitter is recognised for cleaning up accounts to make them secure and to remove spam and bots. Twitter did a similar effort earlier this year to clean up the site and stated, “You may see some changes in the number of followers from time to time. Follower counts do not include accounts that have been requested to validate their password or phone number until they have done so. This is something we do on a regular basis to help prevent spam and keep all accounts safe.”
In a similar development, Twitter announced the removal of over 3,000 accounts that were used as “foreign state-linked information operations.” According to Reuters, the Twitter accounts that were banned were linked to operations attributed to six countries, including Mexico, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, Twitter has announced that it will not allow users to distribute private individuals’ media files, such as photographs or videos, without their authorization.
Media files that showed critical information such as a person’s home address, identity documents, or contact information had already been forbidden by the corporation. The new guidelines, on the other hand, aim to crack down on posts that may cause harassment or violation of their personal space.