SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – Twitter on Wednesday, July 11 (July 12, Manila time) announced it is removing locked accounts from the number of followers a user has on his profile.
According to a post by Vijaya Gadde, Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead of Twitter, the change in follower count representation is meant to provide users with “confidence that the numbers are meaningful and accurate.”
Locked accounts are different from spam accounts or Twitter bots. Locked accounts, Gadde explained, are usually “created by real people but we (Twitter) cannot confirm that the original person who opened the account still has control and access to it.”
Gadde explained the update is “focused on followers because it is one of the most visible features on our service and often associated with account credibility. “
Locked Twitter accounts are unable to tweet, like, retweet or see advertising on the social media platform.
How does a locked account occur? Twitter will lock accounts depending on sudden changes in account behavior. If the social media service suspects something, they may lock an account and contact the owner to confirm that control of the account is still theirs.
Such behavior includes:
- tweeting a large volume of unsolicited replies or mentions
- tweeting misleading links
- if a large number of accounts block a given account after mentioning them.
Twitter may also lock an account if it notices email and password combinations from other services posted online, thus potentially placing the security of the account at risk. They will then require the account to change passwords.
We are committed to building trust and encouraging healthy conversation on Twitter.
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 11, 2018
Follower counts should be meaningful and accurate. We are removing locked accounts from follower counts.
What are locked accounts?
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 11, 2018
When we see sudden changes in behavior, we lock accounts. We reach out to the owners of the accounts and unless they validate the account and reset their passwords, we keep them locked with no ability to log in.
What does this mean for your follower count?
— Twitter (@Twitter) July 11, 2018
Most people will see a change of four followers or fewer; others with larger follower counts may experience a more significant drop.
Read more. https://t.co/BNPFKU7iME
– Rappler.com
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