04/12/2025
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04/12/2025
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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 4: In one of the most sweeping digital purges in social media history, X (formerly Twitter) has witnessed a dramatic collapse in follower counts—affecting presidents, prime ministers, celebrities, and global influencers alike. The reason? Elon Musk has finally unleashed the platform’s largest-ever crackdown on fake, bot-driven, and dormant accounts.
The scale is staggering: follower drops hit everyone from Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, and Emmanuel Macron, to global superstars like Taylor Swift, Cristiano Ronaldo, Justin Bieber, and Kim Kardashian.
And yes—even Musk’s own AI chatbot Grok confirmed the clean-up, stating that X is “purging millions of fake, bot, and dormant accounts to enhance platform authenticity,” noting that the drop spans leaders, politicians, and celebrities across the world.
Why This Purge Happened Now
Since purchasing the platform in 2022, Musk has repeatedly vowed to crush bots, calling them “the biggest threat to trust, reality, and ad revenue — bots don’t buy ads.”
In late 2025, the algorithm went into full attack mode, targeting:
- Bot networks that auto-follow celebrities and world leaders
- Political influence operations (especially after global elections)
- Dormant accounts that ignored reactivation prompts
- Spam farms posing as fan pages, promo accounts, or foreign-led campaigns
Who Lost the Most Followers? The Numbers Are Jaw-Dropping
- Narendra Modi (India PM): 4 million
- Barack Obama (Ex US President) : 2–3 million
- Kamala Harris: 2 million
- Donald Trump (US President) : 1–2.3 million
- Elon Musk (Tech Entrepreneur/X Owner) :1–2 million
- Joe Biden (Former US President) : 200K–500K
- Jair Bolsonaro (Ex Brazil President) : 500K–1 million
- Emmanuel Macron (President of France) : 200K–400K
- Hillary Clinton: 100K–300K
- Rahul Gandhi ( Indian Politician) i: 100K–200K
- Jack DorseyGlobal (Twitter/X Co-Founder, influential in politics/tech policy) : 200K–230K
Global Superstars
- Justin Bieber: 7–20 million
- Katy Perry: 20 million
- Taylor Swift: 13 million
- Cristiano Ronaldo: 9 million
- Rihanna: 3–10 million
- Kim Kardashian: 6 million
- Beyoncé: 1.4–1.5 million
- Selena Gomez: 4–5 million
- Ariana Grande: 3–4 million
- Lionel Messi: 5–7 million
- The Rock: 2–3 million
Creators & Digital Personalities
- MrBeast: 1–2 million
- PewDiePie: 500K–800K
- Mo Vlogs: 100K–200K
- Rawan & Rayan Fahmi: 50K–100K
Celebrities From India
- Amitabh Bachchan: 800K–1.2 million
- Akshay Kumar: 1–1.7 million
- Anupam Kher: 900K
Even organizations weren’t spared:
- Al-Hilal FC: 1.5 million
- Al Jazeera English: 30K–70K
- Apple : 200K
- CNN : 300K – 450K
- CNN International: 150K – 250K
- Nike: 150K – 300K
- Samsung Mobile: 200K – 350K
- Coca-Cola: 100K – 180K
- Netflix: 250K – 400K
- Disney: 120K – 220K
- BBC News: 200K – 350K
- WWE: 400K – 600K
Why High-Profile Accounts Took the Hardest Hit
Bots naturally flock to big names—politicians, stars, athletes—hoping to “ride the algorithm” for reach. So when X’s cleanup began, the bigger the account, the bigger the fall. In reality, the purge wasn’t a punishment. It was simply revealing years of ghost followers, fake amplification, mass-created bot farms, and inactive accounts