President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Friday morning to complain about losing followers on his account, even though it doesn’t appear that he lost any recently.
The president also alleged that the social media company has a bias against him.
“Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join – they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?” the president wrote.
Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join – they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
The president’s gripe about losing Twitter followers comes after the company announced that its number of monthly users dropped by nine million this quarter as it suspends accounts that are bots and spam, according to the Verge.
In a statement announcing its third-quarter earnings, CEO Jack Dorsey said the company is trying to detect inauthentic accounts early.
“We’re achieving meaningful progress in our efforts to make Twitter a healthier and valuable everyday service,” he said. “We’re doing a better job detecting and removing spammy and suspicious accounts at sign-up.”
Trump’s Twitter following has long been propped up by a number of “egg” accounts, or “artificial followers,” according to a Daily Dot investigation.
Twitter has routinely deleted suspected inauthentic accounts—resulting in thousands of followers to be dropped from Trump’s account in July. Many conservatives have also called out the social media site for deleting users.
Despite Trump’s protests, it does not appear that he lost many followers recently. The contrary is true.
Wayback Machine, an internet archive that takes snapshots of internet pages, shows that the president’s following has grown steadily in the past month, going from 54.6 million at the end of September to 55 million on Oct. 10. Trump currently has 55.3 million followers.
The president’s complaint about losing followers was quickly mocked by people online.
me when my fire tweet doesn't get the RTs it deserves https://t.co/z5bArZwouZ
— David Mack (@davidmackau) October 26, 2018
people are sending bombs through the mail and this guy is worried about Twitter, what the fuck is this timeline https://t.co/cqsvpwy3l8
— a r a b e l l a (@why_arabella) October 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/LukeHBailey/status/1055828299673407488
This seems just sort of … sad. You can be president of the United States, tenant of the White House, commander of the mightiest armed forces in the history of the human race … and you still fret over your Twitter follower counts, just like the rest of us poor slobs. https://t.co/jUWXfQ4gFp
— David Frum (@davidfrum) October 26, 2018
"A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp!"
— Cal Deobald (@calmudge0n) October 26, 2018
Actually, we've been told it's more of a toadstool. https://t.co/HnL8RbwLf0
It's ok to remove voters, but don't you dare take away my Russian bots!!! https://t.co/KojJw0klWy
— Janine Dupras Pro-choice 🌈 (@DuprasJanine) October 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/SebFreitag/status/1055826704160227328
https://twitter.com/LBayaud/status/1055826625978224640
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1055822980511645696
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