Conservative Twitter users claimed Wednesday morning that they lost thousands of their followers in an overnight purge.
According to users using the hashtag #TwitterLockout, conservative and right-leaning accounts said they were victims of censorship.
“Over night Conservatives were targeted by twitter, locked out & followers disappeared for displaying ‘automated behavior’ according to the CEO of Twitter who evidently is related to Kim Jong-Un. Odd how when you go to #TwitterLockOut I’m only seeing conservative accts,” tweeted one user, @Patriotic_Va.
Paul Joseph Watson of alt-right website Infowars said he lost “thousands” of followers overnight.
The Columbia Bugle, a conservative blog site, claimed it was locked from their Twitter account and was losing hundreds of followers each hour.
Whoa! Looks like twitter just did another purge, I’m down 2.2k now. #TwitterLockout
— The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) February 21, 2018
Numerous other Twitter users with some sort of identification of their Republican, conservative, or right-leaning views said they lost followers in what they dubbed the #TwitterLockout. The hashtag was trending in Washington early Wednesday morning.
I woke this morning to find that my Twitter account was locked and I had lost over 3,000 followers in a matter of hours.#TwitterLockOut
— Mark Pantano (@TheMarkPantano) February 21, 2018
Why did I just lose 100 followers?
This is a damn joke. Twitter is absolutely censoring conservative and right wing speech for no damn reason other than their disagreement with it. But, liberals can write vile comments and threaten us with no punishment.
BS. #TwitterLockOut
— Mike (@mike_Zollo) February 21, 2018
Twitter is currently purging the followers on conservative accounts only. I just lost 3000 followers in one minute. Check out the trending hashtag to confirm that it is ONLY conservative accounts that are being affected.
Holding for an explanation…#twitterlockout— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) February 21, 2018
I’ve lost 3,900 followers so far
— GEORGIA DIRT ROAD ? (@GeorgiaDirtRoad) February 21, 2018
“Hello @jack a lot of people are asking about #TwitterLockOut could the company please provide the criteria for erasing followers while folks sleep. I know there is a lot of pressure to be more responsible in curbing certain actions but that shouldn’t extend to muting opinions,” tweeted Charles Payne of Fox Business Network, tagging Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey. Payne said in a separate tweet that he lost followers overnight.
Some users claimed the “purge” was not meant to conservative leaning users, but rather to remove bots and fake followers.
The event happened less than a week after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies for meddling in the 2016 election, relying heavily on social media use.
Twitter took down bots in January following a New York Times investigation exposed known users who had purchased fake Twitter followers using a service called Devumi.
“#TwitterLockOut WHY IS IT THAT I LOST 3K FOLLOWERS, 3000 IS A LOT TO MY ACCOUNT,” tweeted user PhxKen, whose bio describes him as a “conservative” and “constitutionalist” with the hashtag “Make America Great Again.”
#TwitterLockOut WHY IS IT THAT I LOST 3K FOLLOWERS, 3000 IS A LOT TO MY ACCOUNT.
— Phx Ken (@PhxKen) February 21, 2018
A spokesperson for Twitter said that the company’s tools are “apolitical” and it enforces its rules “without political bias.”
“As part of our ongoing work in safety, we identify suspicious account behaviors that indicate automated activity or violations of our policies around having multiple accounts, or abuse,” the spokesperson said in an email to the Washington Examiner. “We also take action on any accounts we find that violate our terms of service, including asking account owners to confirm a phone number so we can confirm a human is behind it. That’s why some people may be experiencing suspensions or locks. Note that when an account is locked and being challenged to provide a phone number, it is removed from follower counts until it provides a phone number.”
“This is part of our ongoing, comprehensive efforts to make Twitter safer and healthier for everyone,” the spokesperson said.
