A recent report has cast doubt on the authenticity of Elon Musk’s 153 million followers on Twitter, now rebranded as X. According to researchers, 42 percent of Musk’s followers have zero followers of their own, and 25 percent created their accounts since his October 2022 acquisition of the platform.
According to a recent report from Mashable, new data raises questions about the authenticity and engagement levels of Elon Musk’s massive Twitter/X following, which now exceeds 153 million users on the recently renamed platform. Musk has been a towering figure on social media since long before his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022. However, recent data suggests that the numbers on his gigantic following may not be as straightforward as they seem.
Elon Musk’s Halloween costume (Taylor Hill /Getty)
Mashable reports that third-party researcher Travis Brown recently conducted an exhaustive analysis of Musk’s Twitter followers. According to Brown, a staggering 42 percent of Musk’s followers have zero followers of their own, and over 72 percent have fewer than 10. Roughly 40 percent of Musk’s followers have never tweeted. This leads to questions about the authenticity of Musk’s followers, as these users follow many of the behaviors associated with bots, or fake accounts.
Another focus of the research is the timing of account creations. More than 25 percent of Musk’s current followers created their accounts after he acquired Twitter in October 2022. This could either indicate a surge of interest in Musk or point to a potential influx of bot accounts. Despite the colossal following, only a minuscule 0.3 percent of Musk’s followers are subscribed to X Premium, the platform’s paid subscription service that was formerly known as Twitter Blue. This is particularly surprising given that Musk has been actively promoting the service, which offers features like a verification badge and monetization eligibility.
If Musk’s follower count is inflated by inactive or fake accounts, this could have broader implications for Twitter/X’s user engagement metrics. Musk recently claimed that Twitter/X has more than 540 million monthly users. If a considerable percentage of these are inactive or fake, the platform’s overall user base may not be as robust as it appears.
Read more at Mashable here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan