Conservative Twitter Accounts Reportedly Witness Tenfold Increase in Users Amid Change of Ownership

Tech billionaire and constant Twitter critic Elon Musk bought the media platform for $44 billion. His remarks about freedom of speech led thousands of conservative users to believe that the platform's moderation policies would change.

The number of Twitter users that follow influential conservative accounts has grown significantly amid the latest ownership changes, according to data from the social media statistics site Social Blade, analysed by The Verge.

Statistics show that conservative influencers received ten times more followers in the two days that followed the announcement of the deal, which is ten times the daily average increase during the month before the acquisition.

In addition, liberal accounts have lost “hundreds of thousands” of followers in April 25 and 26 after a month of growth.

The changes were said to not be affected by the recent events as the ownership of the platform would not change before the approval of the deal, which may last months, and Musk have not yet introduced any changes to Twitter’s policies. Nevertheless, the shifts “appear to be an organic reaction to the news, with users either joining or leaving the platform in anticipation of Musk’s ownership.”

“The data provides empirical backing to claims made by prominent conservatives like Donald Trump Jr, who shared screenshots from his own social media analytics that appeared to show disproportionate follower gains on April 26th,” the report says.

The Verge listed the most influential accounts with more than 100,000 followers, 50 from the political right and 50 – the left, and examined 30 days of historical information on their number of followers. 48 of the conservative channels gained 17,229 followers while all liberal accounts lost an average of 6,062 followers as of April 26. The analysis shows a 3:1 "net gain for Twitter in terms of users”.