The social media giant Twitter on July 12 decided to put a stop on suspicious accounts on their platform by shutting down many fake Twitter accounts. The move has affected the follower count of many prominent personalities, including PM Modi, whose official Twitter page (@narendramodi) lost around 2.7 lakh followers. This action was initiated to stop instances of social media fraud since many users have bloated their followers count on Twitter by purchasing them or by using a fake account-generating software. PM Modi Loses Nearly 3 Lakh Followers, Rahul Gandhi 17,000 as Twitter Cracks Down on Suspicious Accounts.

The micro-blogging website stated that “Follower counts are a visible feature, and Twitter aims for everyone to have confidence that the numbers are meaningful and accurate”. WhatsApp Working on New Feature to Stop Fake News.

Twitter’s purge of fake accounts and followers, which started yesterday, has made many prominent figures lose their follower account. Apart from Narendra Modi, former US President Barack Obama (@BarackObama) also lost about 23 lakhs of Twitter followers, as per the data from Twitter’s analytics service - Twitter Counter.

While Twitter estimates that the average user would see a drop of followers by 6, the ones with purchased followers will see a more significant dip.

Along with the crackdown of fake ids, the online and social networking service will also be locking down accounts on the basis of sudden changes in account behaviour.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 13, 2018 05:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).