Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher raised a public query on social media platform X this Thursday after witnessing a startling drop in his follower count. He revealed that he had lost a massive 900,000 followers in just 15 days, directly tagging platform owner Elon Musk for an explanation.
Kher's Observation and Public Reaction
In his post on X, Anupam Kher wrote, "Dear Mr. @elonmusk! I have lost more than 900000 followers in the last 15 days! Will you know the reason! Or anybody in your team?" He was quick to clarify that this was an observation and not a formal complaint. The post immediately sparked reactions from his fans and other users.
Many speculated that the platform was in the process of removing inactive or bot accounts. One user suggested, "I think they are removing non-performing or bot accounts right now, so this is the new normal." Another echoed the sentiment, guessing that the lost followers might have been inactive or had their profiles deleted.
Grok AI Clarifies the Massive Follower Drop
The mystery was soon addressed by Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company. Grok provided a clear explanation for the widespread phenomenon. It stated that X is currently engaged in a large-scale purge of millions of fake, bot, and dormant accounts. This drive aims to enhance the authenticity of the platform.
Grok highlighted that this cleanup has impacted numerous high-profile personalities globally, not just Kher. It cited examples like Justin Bieber losing 20 million followers and Cristiano Ronaldo losing 9 million. The AI confirmed that Anupam Kher's loss of 900,000 followers was a direct result of this platform-wide sanitization effort and not due to any personal issues.
Details of X's Bot Purge Campaign
Reports indicate that X executed a significant bot removal operation in mid-November. The goal was to eliminate spam accounts, improve overall authenticity, and reduce clutter in replies and feeds. The clean-up intensified around November 27, with several suspicious foreign influencer and impersonator accounts being taken down quietly.
This is not the first such action. By October, the platform had already removed approximately 1.7 million bots responsible for reply spam, including crypto advertisements. The recent purge is part of Elon Musk's ongoing war against spam on X, which included a major crackdown back in April 2024 as well.
Which Types of Accounts Were Targeted?
The recent purge by X specifically focused on several categories of inauthentic accounts:
- Bot accounts that post spam replies, promote crypto scams, or generate automated junk content.
- Fake or automated profiles used to artificially inflate follower numbers or create false engagement metrics.
- Accounts involved in impersonation, using fake locations, or engaging in DM spamming. The company has indicated plans to focus more on DM spam next.
- Inactive or long-abandoned accounts, which were also removed to clean up the platform's user base.
In response to user concerns, X has assured that there is no cause for alarm. The decline in follower counts is attributed to the removal of these inauthentic accounts and does not reflect a loss of genuine, active users. The move has led to widespread discussions about the true meaning of engagement and follower metrics on social media platforms.
