Musk’s Twitter takeover prompts gains for some high-profile Republicans
It’s difficult to tell exactly why follower counts go up and down, and the counts are often affected by Twitter banning bot accounts en masse. Not all people who follow a particular politician are supporters.
Still, the pattern suggests that tens of thousands of liberals may be leaving the site while conservatives are joining or becoming more active, shifting the demographics of the site under Musk’s ownership. These changes mirror a trend Musk started in April when he bought the company.
Averagely, Republicans gained 8,000 followers while Democrats lost 4,000. For its analysis, The Post analyzed data from ProPublica’s Represent tool, which tracks congressional Twitter activity.
Musk and Twitter declined to comment.
Musk purchased Twitter for $44Billion late last month, promising to bring his vision on free speech absolutism to it. The day he took over, he said Twitter wouldn’t become “a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” But users immediately started testing the boundaries of the new site under Musk, prompting hate speech to briefly surge.
Musk has since launched and restored Twitter Blue Verified ($7.99 per month), a $7.99 membership that places a checkmark next to every account that pays. There was a flood of fake accounts after the move. Musk also fired half of his staff. He also required that his other workers pledge to work long hours and leave the company. This greatly reduced the number who were responsible for policing this site.
Musk also has restored several major rule-breaking accounts, including former president Donald Trump’s, following an unrepresentative and unscientific Twitter poll. On Thursday, after a similar poll, he said he would grant “general amnesty” for all banned accounts that didn’t post spam or break the law.
Advertisers have been fleeing, raising doubts about the site’s ability to make money. More than a third of Twitter’s top 100 marketers have not advertised on the social media network in the two weeks before Tuesday, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Musk says he is a political moderate, but has agreed with right-wing figures on the site who accuse Twitter’s previous management of being biased against conservatives. Musk called upon his followers to vote Republican on the day prior to the midterm elections, breaking with social media CEOs that tend not to explicitly endorse one party.
For years, conservatives and the right wing have accused Twitter for censorship without proof. Many have cheered Musk’s takeover, saying it’s a reason to return to the site.
On the day Musk’s purchase was finalized, Republican members of Congress saw their follower counts skyrocket. Greene, Jordan and the House Freedom Caucus chairman gained 37,000 followers each. That same day, Democrats’ follower counts plummeted, with Warren losing nearly 19,000 followers and Schiff losing 13,000.
This trend continued for days with prominent online Republicans gaining thousands and Democrats losing them.
The same thing happened Nov. 19, when Musk announced that he would be reactivating Trump’s account after holding a poll in which any user could vote yes or no. Greene gained 45,000 more followers than Sanders, while Warren and Sanders both lost over 22,000. Greene’s following has grown by 330,000 in the last month. Sanders and Warren both lost over 22,000 followers.