Popular Twitter users who have branded themselves as influencers have lost countless followers in the wake of the new regulations to curb fake accounts.
In Kenya, some of the bigwigs who had over a million and hundreds of thousands of followers have been the worst casualties in the ongoing clean up.
Outspoken political blogger Cyprian Nyakundi and social media influencer Christian Dela have suffered a huge blow losing over 1 million followers combined.
Christian who goes by the username XtianDela lost over 500,000 followers which led him to a drop from over 1 million followers while Nyakundi lost over 400,000.
Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) CEO Ezekiel Mutua is another casualty whose account has dropped from over 100,000 followers to a meagre 34,000.
Xtiandela's account before and after losing followers:
Kenyans took to Twitter to ‘mark themselves safe’ and call out accounts with fake followers using the #TwitterCleanupKE and also poked fun at those who have been affected.
“The people who are doing the clean up on Twitter should be given the task to deal with graft in Kenya, I think they will wipe it out completely,” said one Twitter user.
Popular radio presenter Shaffie Weru also spoke about the purge making light of the situation noting: ”Twitter is doing away with all fake followers...nobody can stop reggae my frens (friends), we are all dying.”
Kenyans were not the only ones affected as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey himself reported that he lost 200,000 followers. Others such as US President Donald Trump, celebrities Rihanna and Oprah Winfrey also lost significant numbers.
Kenyans with a significantly small following also faced the purge with some reporting they had lost between 100-200 followers by Friday morning.
Twitter, in a blog, stated that it would suspend private accounts in a bid to curb fake news by limiting fake users: “Follower counts are a visible feature, and we want everyone to have confidence that the numbers are meaningful and accurate."
“Most people will see a change of four followers or fewer; others with larger follower counts will experience a more significant drop. We understand this may be hard for some, but we believe accuracy and transparency make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation,” Twitter reiterated.
Ezekiel Mutua before and after the Twitter cleanup:
