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Greg Evans
Jul 13, 2018
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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/ AFP
Twitter has started to delete accounts from their website which they deem as suspicious in a bid to restore the trust that people have in the network.
The social media giant started the cull on Thursday and many high-profile accounts have seen their followers significantly decrease.
The New York Times reports that the likes of Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and Kim Kardashian have lost more than a million followers.
Given that the purge was an attempt to remove any untrustworthy, fake or locked accounts you may have thought that someone like Donald Trump would have been severely affected.
Yet the US President only lost 300,000 followers and is now down to 53.1 million followers, according to his page.
We doubt he'll lose much sleep over that but it might dent his ego just a little bit, especially as he's not best pleased about the fact that a balloon bearing his resemblance is currently flying over London.
You can track Trump's tumbling followers in real time using Social Blade. It's oddly satisfying.
Trump is easily one of the most prolific Twitter users and has in many ways, both good and bad, redefined how people use the website.
Interestingly, CNET reports that his predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama, lost 1.6 million followers; surely something Trump would bring up if it came to his attention.
Twitter decided to instigate this purge after the New York Times reported in January that several companies had profited through advertising thanks to fake accounts.
HT CNET