U.S. politician follower gains and loses since Elon Musk takeover 2022
Elon Musk officially became the CEO of Twitter on October 27th, 2022. From that week, the follower counts of popular politicians in the United States began to dramatically change. During the week of October 24th to 31st, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas gained 75,977 new followers. Comparatively, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts lost 36,902 followers.
Fluctuations in the number of Twitter followers of any one account are known to occur. These fluctuations are usually the result of significant social events in wider society or the mass removal of bots from the website and occur in short bursts. However, a clear and prolonged pattern emerged with high profile U.S. politicians in the weeks following the Musk takeover.
On November 2nd, Musk tweeted a picture of a sweater sold by the campaign of Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in which he had circled the price. This tweet gathered more than 400,000 thousand likes and prompted a response from Representative Ocasio-Cortez in which she criticized the Twitter CEO for his treatment of his employees.
Let that sink in
The acquisition of Twitter by tech billionaire Elon Musk was finalized on October 27th, 2022. Since then, Musk has made weekly headlines for various changes to the platform such as the “Twitter Blue” verification system, the cutting hundreds of jobs, installing beds in the office, and granting “general amnesty” for all banned accounts including those of former president Donald Trump and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.Fluctuations in the number of Twitter followers of any one account are known to occur. These fluctuations are usually the result of significant social events in wider society or the mass removal of bots from the website and occur in short bursts. However, a clear and prolonged pattern emerged with high profile U.S. politicians in the weeks following the Musk takeover.
Republicans are the biggest winners
Republican representatives have seen the largest follower gains in stark contrast to their Democratic and more left-leaning counterparts. It is difficult to know exactly why the post-Musk acquisition fluctuations have occurred, but news outlets have speculated a mass exodus of more liberally minded users, as well as an influx of right-wing bots. Additionally, Musk vocalized his support for the Republican party during the 2022 midterm elections and called for the prosecution of public health official, Anthony Fauci.On November 2nd, Musk tweeted a picture of a sweater sold by the campaign of Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in which he had circled the price. This tweet gathered more than 400,000 thousand likes and prompted a response from Representative Ocasio-Cortez in which she criticized the Twitter CEO for his treatment of his employees.
