Twitter is fostering for a flushing out of its problematic accounts from its platform. The company targets at the spread of abuse and fake news by removing the locked accounts from follower numbers. Once the company targets the problematic accounts which were used to spread abuse, wrong information and spreading propaganda Twitter users will see a drop in their follower accounts this week. Twitter will remove all locked accounts from people’s follower numbers. Most users with a large number of followers will see a major drop in their follower's list.

Twitter locks accounts when it detects “sudden changes in account behavior” –for example if the account tweets a large volume of unsolicited replies or mentions; if the account posts misleading links; or if a large number of other accounts block the account in question. Accounts can also be locked if the platform finds that someone’s login credentials have been leaked elsewhere, for example through a data breach at another service. In both cases, Twitter contacts the owners of the account and asks them to validate the account and reset their password. If the owner doesn’t comply, the account remains locked.

Mr.Vijaya Gadde, from  Twitter’s trust and safety team, said that most of the accounts were opened by real people but after some point of time it’s difficult to find out whether the user is the same person or the account is controlled by someone else. These accounts are easier to be identified as they show different behavior from the beginning itself. This crackdown will help Twitter to improve their services in the areas of trust and healthy conversation.