Rahul Gandhi says Twitter is limiting his follower count under govt pressure

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the government has imposed a shadow ban on him due to which he is unable to attract followers on the platform in his letter to the Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal. Gandhi further said that Twitter was unknowingly involved in the government efforts to quash dissent.
 
“I have been reliably, albeit discreetly, informed by people at Twitter India that they are under immense pressure by the government to silence my voice. My account was even blocked for a few days for no legitimate reason,” Gandhi said in his letter.
 
Gandhi also shared an analysis of data from his Twitter account showing that the number of followers, which is 19.6 million currently, barely increased for several months after an eight-day suspension of his account in August 2021.
 
“For example, in May 2021, my account gained roughly 640,000 new followers. This had been the case for several years until July 2021. Then something strange happened. Since August 2021, the average number of my new monthly Twitter followers has fallen to nearly zero,” he claimed.
 
He also flagged that the drop in followers has taken place when he tweeted on the plight of a rape victim’s family in Delhi, supported the farmers and questioned the government on various issues. The former Congress president also underscored that his video that promised the farmers that the 3 contentious farm laws will be revoked is amongst the highest viewed videos posted by any Indian political leader on the platform recently.
 
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report this story. Gandhi also urged Agarwal to “not allow Twitter to become a pawn in the destruction of the idea of India”. He added that the world is watching us even more keenly as of now that they ever have.
 
After Gandhi’s letter to Agarwal became viral, Twitter spokesperson clarified that follower counts are a visible feature and we want to everyone to be confident of these numbers. The spokesperson also noted that the platform has zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and spam.
 
“We fight spam and malicious automation strategically and at scale with machine learning tools, and as part of those consistent and ongoing efforts to ensure a healthy service and credible accounts, follower counts can and do fluctuate,” the spokesperson further added.
 
The spokesperson also underlined, “We remove millions of accounts each week for violating our policies on platform manipulation and spam. You can take a look at latest Twitter Transparency Center update for more context. While some accounts notice minor difference, in certain cases, number could be higher.”

BusinessToday.In has also reached out to Rahul Gandhi’s office for a comment. The story will be updated accordingly.

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