Twitter is deleting and suspending accounts faster than before, raising concerns over the company's growth and true number of monthly users.
The online social media company suspended more than 1 million accounts per day in recent months, sharply escalating its battle against the flow of disinformation on the platform. That's resulted in the suspension of more than 70 million accounts in May and June, with the same pace continuing in July according to data obtained by the Washington Post.
The pressure to delete the fake accounts has intensified in recent months after the company revealed during congressional testimony that Russia used fake accounts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A "troll-factory" based in St. Petersburg was able to use the social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to inflame social and political tensions in the U.S.
The aggressive suspension of user accounts may even result in a decline of monthly users of the social media platform, something rarely seen in Twitter's user numbers.
The account suspensions is one of several moves to limit the influence of people they say are abusing the platform.
Twitter has been criticized for not acting to limit the bots, trolls and other accounts that are used to amplify disinformation and "fake news" to people online. Some of the accounts tweet hundreds of times a day thanks to the help of automation software, unleashing a firehose of disinformation that limits authentic voices.
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