--- description: The internet's biggest social media influencers lost millions of followers on Twitter as the platform tackles widespread social media fraud title: Celebrities Lose Millions of Fake Followers in Twitter Purge image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f7af85fc4d64407/6989354bab6d77b1776b32a7/gettyimages-956073498.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Celebrities Are Losing Millions of Followers as Twitter Slashes Fake Accounts by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2018 5:30 AM CUT  Katy Perry arrives for the 2018 Met Gala on May 7, 2018, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Twitter's biggest influencers lost millions of followers Thursday as the platform tackles fake accounts. Katy Perry arrives for the 2018 Met Gala on May 7, 2018, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Twitter's biggest influencers lost millions of followers Thursday as the platform tackles fake accounts.Angela Weiss—AFP/Getty Images by [Casey Quackenbush](/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2018 5:30 AM CUT From former President Barack Obama to Justin Bieber, the internet’s biggest social media influencers [lost millions](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/technology/twitter-followers-nyt.html "undefined") of Twitter followers Thursday as the platform began a massive purge of suspicious accounts_._ By cracking down on fake accounts, Twitter hopes to restore faith in the controversy-ridden platform where influence—from entertainment to politics—can be inflated by automated or fake followers, the New York _Times_ reports. Twitter said it [expects](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/technology/twitter-followers-nyt.html "undefined") the initiative to reduce the total follower count on the platform by a significant 6%, the _Times_ reports. Across the board, Twitter’s most followed celebrities [felt a cut](https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/twitter-follower-counts-drop-fake-users-1202871545/ "undefined") on Thursday. [Katy Perry](https://twitter.com/katyperry "undefined"), the most followed person on Twitter, lost at least 1.5 million followers, leaving her leaving her at 107 million followers, _Variety_ reports. [Justin Bieber](https://twitter.com/justinbieber "undefined") and [Taylor Swift](https://twitter.com/taylorswift13 "undefined"), lost about 2 million each, leaving them at 104 million and 83.2 million respectively. [Rihanna](https://twitter.com/rihanna "undefined"), [Ellen DeGeneres](https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow "undefined"), [Lady Gaga,](https://twitter.com/ladygaga "undefined") also all lost about 2 million followers. “This specific update is focused on followers because it is one of the most visible features on our service and often associated with account credibility,” Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s legal, policy, and trust and safety lead, wrote in a [blog post](https://blog.twitter.com/official/en%5Fus/topics/company/2018/Confidence-in-Follower-Counts.html "undefined"). Basketball star [Shaquille O’Neal](https://twitter.com/SHAQ "undefined") also lost about a million from his 15.3 million followers, and Oprah lost about 1.4 million followers, the _Times_ reports. Politicians felt the slash too. [Barack Obama](https://twitter.com/barackobama "undefined") lost over 2 million followers from his previous 103.63 million, leaving him at 101 million, while [President Donald Trump](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump "undefined") lost 340,000 followers, taking him from 53.4 million to 53.1 million. Twitter’s [primary account](https://twitter.com/twitter "undefined") seems to have taken the greatest hit, [dropping](https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/twitter-follower-counts-drop-fake-users-1202871545/ "undefined") from 62.85 million to 55.35 million followers on Thursday — a drop of 12%. > [](https://twitter.com/lilyallen/status/1017521273423958016) > [](https://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/1017609313546854405) > [](https://twitter.com/jack/status/1017490510678614017) Meanwhile, most regular accounts may see a cut of about three or four followers, according to the company. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5337863/twitter-fake-accounts-bots-purge-celebrities/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5337863/twitter-fake-accounts-bots-purge-celebrities/"},"headline":"Celebrities Are Losing Millions of Followers as Twitter Slashes Fake Accounts","datePublished":"2018-07-13T05:30:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:51:46.813Z","description":"Twitter is purging suspicious accounts to restore confidence in the platform","url":"https://time.com/5337863/twitter-fake-accounts-bots-purge-celebrities/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f7af85fc4d64407/6989354bab6d77b1776b32a7/gettyimages-956073498.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f7af85fc4d64407/6989354bab6d77b1776b32a7/gettyimages-956073498.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-ENTERTAINMENT-MET-GALA-2018","caption":"US-ENTERTAINMENT-MET-GALA-2018","creditText":"Angela Weiss—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5337863/twitter-fake-accounts-bots-purge-celebrities/","name":"Celebrities Are Losing Millions of Followers as Twitter Slashes Fake Accounts"}}]}] ```