The latest Twitter purge has ejected 100,000 of President Trump’s followers from the social media site
By Ronald J. Hansen | Arizona Republic
U.S. Sen. John McCain’s social-media megaphone got a little smaller Thursday when he lost more than 200,000 Twitter followers after the company purged millions of locked accounts from its systems.
Like others in politics and entertainment, the Arizona Republican saw his following trimmed in Twitter’s effort to maintain what it calls a “healthy conversation” by eliminating followers whose accounts were locked with no attempt by the owners to regain access.
McCain’s Twitter account dropped to 3.2 million followers, a loss of nearly 215,000 in a day. The 6.3 percent drop was in line with what the company predicted for many of its high-profile users.
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, lost a higher share, 9.6 percent, to his personal Twitter account, which still had nearly 33,000 followers. His separate, official account lost about 1 percent of its following.
Both men actively tweet, though with decidedly different tones.
McCain, who is battling brain cancer and hasn’t been in Washington since December, uses his account along with his traditional press office to weigh in on issues, ranging from President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee this week to Trump’s combative appearance at the NATO summit.
