Conservatives question huge spikes in Twitter followers after Elon Musk takeover
Since Elon Musk’s takeover, prominent conservative figures have seen massive increases in Twitter followers – with many wondering if this reflected a sudden lifting of long-suspected shadowbans.
Donald Trump Jr. led the way by questioning the giant spike, which saw him gain 87,296 new subscribers on Tuesday – and another 119,022 at the start of Wednesday, after weeks of averaging just a few thousand a day.
“While I’m awesome and totally deserve 87,000 new subscribers a day, it looks like someone has removed the channels from my account,” former President Donald Trump’s son wrote on Tuesday.
“I wonder if they burn the evidence before a new official comes in?” He asked of a widespread conspiracy online that progressive Twitter employees were removing phantom bans on accounts.
“It looks like Shadow Banning was yet another ‘right-wing conspiracy theory’ that was 100% true”, he said.
He was far from alone with the Governor of Florida. Ron DeSantis – considered a potential future Republican presidential candidate – has attracted more than 205,000 followers in the past few days, according to Social Blade analytics.
Fox News favorite Tucker Carlson – who celebrated lifting his Twitter ban on Monday with a simple “We’re back” – gaining more than 141,000, after a series of mostly lost followers.
“It’s really something conservative accounts are getting massive subscriber increases today….” the Florida representative tweeted. Matt Gaetzwhich has seen more than 61,000 new subscribers since Musk’s takeover.
Conservative radio host Dana Loesch also said she was “noticing an increase in subscribers and engagement after losing huge chunks…over the past few years.
“It’s too early for Musk to have done this, but I wonder if anything has been changed by those looking to minimize their fingerprint ahead of potential transparency,” she wrote.
Senator Josh Hawley sent an official letter to the Senate urging Musk to investigate the shadow ban — as well as “who was responsible for the willful suppression of the New York Post’s now-justified reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop and business dealings.”
“Here’s an idea for @elonmusk. Open the books on who Twitter shadow banned, who Twitter suspended, who they strangled, and who was responsible for the blatant censorship of Hunter Biden’s laptop reports. Give it all back public,” he tweeted along with the letter.
Twitter, however, dismissed the plot, insisting to NBC News that the swings were “organic.”
Conservatives are gaining supporters
As conservatives returned to the site now promising free speech, liberals quit en masse – with key progressives seeing huge declines in followers, with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has lost over 38,000 in the past few days.
“While we continue to take action against accounts that violate our anti-spam policy, which may affect follower numbers, these fluctuations appear to be largely the result of an increase in creation and disabling new accounts,” Twitter told NBC News in a statement.
Democrats are losing supporters:
Other right-wing voices, meanwhile, expressed hope for dramatic changes to the site, including the return of many bans under the old leadership.
representing Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted, “Bring back President Trump. Recover my personal account. Bring back Dr. Robert Malone. Bring back Alex Jones. Bring back Milo Yinnopoulos. Bring back the canceled nation.
“Bring back freedom of expression. Bring back America!
#Conservatives #question #huge #spikes #Twitter #followers #Elon #Musk #takeover
