Trump-supporting Twitter users the world over logged on Wednesday morning to find their follower counts diminished. Appearances suggest the targets of this so-called Twitter “purge” were suspected bot accounts, and unverified users whose tweeting patterns reflect those of Russian bots: Locked out users were required to prove their humanity by entering a phone number.

In a statement, Twitter called it a housecleaning, unmotivated by political bias. “Twitter’s tools are apolitical,” according to their statement, which explains: “We identify suspicious account behaviors that indicate automated activity or violations of our policies around having multiple accounts.”