Progressive Twitter accounts lose followers, conservatives gain / Photo: Brendan Smialowski - AFP/File
-
Brazil probing 'criminal' origin of forest fires: minister to AFP
-
Espada out as Astros manager while Mattingly stays with Phillies
-
Sally Rooney books cannot be sold in UK amid Palestine Action ban: publisher
-
Houthis say targeted Saudi oil giant Aramco, vow more attacks
-
Italian ski stars Goggia and Brignone to miss season opener
-
Govt takes control of Turkey's most-watched news channel
-
Bournemouth boss Rose urges Cherries to bounce back from Chelsea 'slap'
-
FIFA to offer members $6.35-billion development fund windfall
-
Top seed Sabalenka falls at first hurdle in Wuhan
-
US consumer inflation hotter than expected as midterms loom
-
FX Junction Brings Copy Trading to Everyone, While Their Money Never Leaves With Their Broker
-
INmune Bio Inc. and Quantum Computing Inc. Partner to Apply Quantum Optimization and AI to Advance Alzheimer’s Drug Research and Explore New Applications for XPro
-
Brighton defender Struijk's red card overturned
-
Hot US inflation data dents Wall Street stocks
-
Saudi league postpones three matches after Houthi attacks
-
India sends 'cockroach' leaders to jail after protest
-
US consumer inflation up more than expected as midterms loom
-
'Sinners' director Ryan Coogler to reboot 'X-Files' for Disney
-
Canadian publisher supports novelist Orelien after AI denial
-
Lufthansa wins contest for TAP Air Portugal stake
-
Medvedev sees off Tsitsipas to reach Shanghai Masters quarters
-
AI worms, 'major' incident fears spur safety calls at industry summit
-
Louvre boss warns of closure risk without major renovations
-
Fuel shortage triggers queues on Indonesia's Bali island
-
Lawes and Genge urge England to end ban on overseas-based players
-
Evolution Metals & Technologies Corp. Reaffirms $400 Million to $460 Million FY2027 Revenue Guidance, Unveils Eight Sintered Magnet Grades Covering an Estimated 75% of Global NdFeB Revenue, and Moves to Answer U.S. Army Call for Rare Earth Magnets
-
Metrika Selected by OCC to Support Stablecoin Supervisory Framework Under the GENIUS Act
-
Trial defence says Russia used Nord Stream pipelines as 'weapon'
-
Kenya hosting 2029 World Championships will help doping fight, says Coe
-
Israeli settlers set fire to mosque in occupied West Bank
-
UK prosecutor tells jury Russell Brand a 'sexual predator'
-
Macron says French student protesters 'exploited' by political forces: spokeswoman
-
Fulham manager Arbeloa fined £25,000 after Man Utd outburst
-
Stocks diverge ahead of key US inflation data
-
Nepal flood triggered by rock and ice avalanche: report
-
Japan summons Russian ambassador to protest journalist's arrest
-
'Distressed' family of UK man killed by tiger urge end to online posts
-
Workers to strike at world's largest copper mine in Chile
-
Regulator expects Man City appeal to be heard by January
-
Ukraine accuses US of helping Russia as missiles hit Kyiv
-
Rising Spanish tennis star handed code violation for swearing at ballboy
-
Drone hits data centre of Russia's largest bank
-
Last of the French musketeers Monfils officially retired from tennis
-
Bivial AG Brings Its Complete Dashboard to Mobile
-
Ukraine ex-military officer stands trial over Nord Stream sabotage
-
Mont Blanc nearly two metres taller than in 2023: French surveyors
-
British and Irish Lions to play first women's match against France
-
Pope recovering after lung cancer operation that rattles Church
-
Fuel shortage triggers queues on resort island Bali
-
Indonesia haze spikes Singapore pollution, shuts East Timor schools
Progressive Twitter accounts lose followers, conservatives gain
Key figures on the American left, Barack Obama among them, have shed thousands of followers since Elon Musk's planned purchase of Twitter emerged, while numbers have soared for right-wing politicians.
Musk, the world's richest man, struck a deal Monday to buy the US-based social media platform for $44 billion.
The news was greeted with enthusiasm by fans of Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, and horror by proponents of strong moderation of disinformation and hate speech.
Promises to leave the platform trended under hashtags such as #LeaveTwitter. Within hours, many appeared to be following through.
Former US president Obama, the most popular person on Twitter with more than 131 million followers, lost 300,000 of them nearly overnight, according to news outlet NBC.
Controversial Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, by contrast, gained nearly 100,000 to her official congressional Twitter account in just 24 hours.
Greene, a vocal ally of former president Donald Trump whose personal profile was banned by the platform, praised the acquisition.
"Prepare for blue check mark full scale meltdown after @elonmusk seals the deal and I should get my personal Twitter account restored," she tweeted, referencing the site's system for verifying users.
"It really is something how conservative accounts are getting massive follower increases today," Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, another Trump ally, said Tuesday.
Twitter on Tuesday told AFP that while they were monitoring the situation, the fluctuations appeared to be organic and largely due to new accounts being created and existing ones deactivated.
The exodus extended beyond political accounts.
"It's strange to see a loss of some 35,000 followers overnight," the Auschwitz Memorial account posted Tuesday. The profile, which has 1.3 million followers, tweets photos and stories of concentration camp victims.
Musk has said he wants to increase trust in Twitter, which he sees as a digital town square for free speech and debate.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted Monday that "Elon's goal of creating a platform that is 'maximally trusted and broadly inclusive' is the right one."
He thanked Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal "for getting the company out of an impossible situation.
"This is the right path...I believe it with all my heart."
A.AbuSaada--SF-PST
