Twitter will be removing locked accounts from follower counts, saying it is “committed to building trust and encouraging healthy conversation” on the platform.
It said, follower counts should be meaningful and accurate and it is removing locked accounts from follower counts.
What are locked accounts?
When there are sudden changes in behavior, Twitter locks accounts. It then reaches out to the owners of the accounts and unless they validate the account and reset their passwords, it keeps them locked with no ability to log in.
The micro-blogging site said this is being done as part of its ongoing and global effort to build trust. “Follower counts are a visible feature, and we want everyone to have confidence that the numbers are meaningful and accurate. Over the years, we’ve locked accounts when we detected sudden changes in account behavior. This week, we’ll be removing these locked accounts from follower counts across profiles globally. As a result, the number of followers displayed on many profiles may go down,” Twitter said.
It further added, “Most people will see a change of four followers or fewer; others with larger follower counts will experience a more significant drop. We understand this may be hard for some, but we believe accuracy and transparency make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation. Though the most significant changes are happening in the next few days, follower counts may continue to change more regularly as part of our ongoing work to proactively identify and challenge problematic accounts.”