Twitter has launched a fresh ‘purge’ aimed at silencing people who have previously been banned from the social network.

Last night, users found they had lost large numbers of followers after the firm began a new bid to wipe out accounts which have fallen foul of its rules on abuse and ‘hateful conduct’.

The social network also appeared to admit that innocent people could get caught up in the crossfire and have their accounts shut down.

Social network begins wiping out users who dodged previous bans as crackdown continues

‘Holy cow man I’m losing so many followers on Twitter, is this just me?’ wrote a musician called Garrett Williamson.


‘I’ve been at a steady decrease for whatever reason and all of a sudden 50 are gone today.’



‘There is some kind of big Twitter purge going on right now,’ wrote documentary filmmaker Robbie Martin

‘I lost about 30 followers in the last 24 hours and no it’s not just because i’m an alienating d*******, it’s happening to a lot of other people as well.’

The social network’s support account confirmed the purge.

Twitter tweeted: ‘This week, we are suspending accounts for attempting to evade an account suspension. These accounts were previously suspended for abusive behavior or evading a previous suspension, and are not allowed to continue using Twitter.’

I've lost over forty followers in recent days due to Twitter suspending accounts more efficiently, I'd appreciate any help that people give, whether it be RT's or S/O's, to help me get back to where I was! Thanks in advance! ? pic.twitter.com/33SibONkbk — Chris (@TheVirgilEffect) August 16, 2018

I lost over 100 followers in a day but that's probably more to do with my personality instead of a twitter purge. — Alex Jones 2.0 (@AlizeeYeezy) August 16, 2018

I just lost 72 followers in the blink of an eye. What the hell is going on with Twitter right now? — Darren McCarthy (@TheDazeel) August 15, 2018

It then said anyone who’s account is suspended for no reason should contact them.

‘We will continue this work in the coming weeks as we identify others who are attempting to Tweet following an account suspension. If you believe your account has been suspended in error, please let us know.’

Twitter recently joined other tech giants in muzzling Alex Jones, founder of the alternative news website Infowars.

Right-wingers claimed the social network has deliberately targeted them and accused Silicon Valley of a left-wing bias which has inspired a clampdown on opposing views.

Last month, Twitter launched a new scheme to clamp down on ‘abuse, harassment and other types of behaviours that can detract or distort from the public conversation’.

It selected two teams of academics to begin a project aimed at working out how to silence the wrong type of speech on the social network.

The researchers have expertise in a wide range of subject areas including Islam, diversity and the spread of right-wing populism.

They will work to measure the effect of echo chambers and hate speech on Twitter, with the data used to guide the tech giant’s future strategy.

Has your account been shut down? Get in touch with jasper.hamill@metro.co.uk and tell us all about it.