Twitter is making the move and slashing accounts that are deemed fake and the fallout may be seen as follower counts start to take a dive.
The social media platform is starting today to remove tens of millions of accounts that may be fake from follower counts, the New York Times reported.
In the past the locked accounts remained in the follower counts, the company said.
We are committed to building trust and encouraging healthy conversation on Twitter.
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 11, 2018
Follower counts should be meaningful and accurate. We are removing locked accounts from follower counts.
What are locked accounts?
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 11, 2018
When we see sudden changes in behavior, we lock accounts. We reach out to the owners of the accounts and unless they validate the account and reset their passwords, we keep them locked with no ability to log in.
What does this mean for your follower count?
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 11, 2018
Most people will see a change of four followers or fewer; others with larger follower counts may experience a more significant drop.
Read more. 👇https://t.co/BNPFKU7iME
The move is trying to battle the issue of social media fraud head-on. Some users boost the number of followers on the platform, and other services fed by Twitter, with either automated or fake accounts. The fake number of followers then influence others when it comes to politics, business and entertainment, the Times reported.
While the move will impact tens of millions locked accounts, it will only account for 6 percent of accounts overall, Wired reported.
Recently, Twitter has been locking about a million accounts a day, a Washington Post investigation uncovered.
In May and June, the company suspended about 70 million accounts and officials expect to keep that same pace for July, the Post reported.
While the shock of numbers going down may hit users now, Twitter officials say that the adjustments to follower counts will level out as they continue to work on identifying and challenging "problematic accounts."
If your Twitter account has been locked, you can follow these steps to get it reinstated.
Cox Media Group