Overnight Twitter exploded with rage, sending #TwitterLockOut to the top of the trending list. People like Ben Garrison, the famous cartoon artist, are reporting they have lost thousands of followers in an instant and more are dropping out by the minute. It appears that only conservative accounts are included in the follower purge.

#TwitterLockout – just saw 2k followers go poof~ What's up Twitter? — GrrrGraphics Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) February 21, 2018

RED ALERT! Twitter is Banning Hundreds of THOUSANDS of Conservative Accounts Tonight.. I literally just lost 5,000 Followers within the last 10 minutes. All hands on Deck America, #TwitterLockOut — Matt Couch 🎙 (@RealMattCouch) February 21, 2018

In a matter of hours it seems twitter removed over 2,500 followers from my account. Anyone else experiencing this today? #TwitterLockOut — Veteran For Trump (@Veteran4Trump) February 21, 2018

https://twitter.com/Rambobiggs/status/966194627194818560

How in the world did I lose 500 followers in less than 3 hours?! 😱@carrieksada @thebradfordfile @DebbieAAldrich I noticed y’all lost some too: must be those pesky “Russians”. SAD #TwitterLockOut #MAGA pic.twitter.com/r1rxPew9c5 — Donald J. Thump🇺🇸 (@POTUSThump) February 21, 2018

Gab TV broadcast the reports they are getting by the thousands of people locked out. Twitter seems to be labeling Trump supporters “Russian bots” and banning them until they provide confidential information most people don’t want Twitter to have.

https://twitter.com/getongab/status/966171480798126080

This is not unexpected. We have been reporting on Twitter tomfoolery for quite a while now and have been waiting for the main purge to begin. This looks like the big one. In order to get back into their accounts, Twitter is requiring a phone number to be attached to the account. Gab TV thinks it could be a data grab. At the same time, Twitter is having a scandal at Periscope involving minors being groomed by pedophiles and talked into doing sexual acts online for adults. Critics say Twitter hasn’t done much to stop it. The Daily Mail reported on it back in December:

In a video shown to The Sunday Express, a girl aged around seven or eight is seen sitting in her living room, with her mother just metres away, while paedophiles post sexual requests. Speaking to the paper, Shaun Stockdale, 34, from Hull, said he noticed a large number of users clicking onto the video and was disturbed by the comments being posted underneath. ‘It became clear pretty soon that these were not children her own age, they were grown men – paedophiles – exploiting her for their own gratification.

Periscope and Twitter are aware of these issues but it was still going on as of last week when I reported two videos that were brought to my attention showing minor girls being harassed and groomed by sickos. The same thing happened to #MeToo during a live stream and I was unable to block the harasser. I had this exchange with Periscope support after that happened.

It is unknown if they blocked the harasser accounts. But instead of focusing on purging the accounts associated with the illegal behavior or enforcing age restrictions on Periscope, Twitter is focused on finding and exterminating “Russian bots” who post pro-Trump things. Why worry about pedophiles sexually abusing minors when you’ve got conservatives to harass?

Twitter support has posted this notice to let you know these measures are for your own good, of course.