Elon Musk becomes most followed person on Twitter

Obama held the record for the most followed person on Twitter since 2020

In Summary

• Elon Musk has 133,073,051 Twitter followers compared to Obama’s 133,043,317 followers.

• Musk took over Twitter on 27 October 2022, after he made a $44 billion acquisition offer for the company.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Image: Courtsey

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has deposed former United States President Barack Obama as the most followed individual on Twitter.

A spot check on the social media platform reveals that the billionaire has 133,073,051 followers in comparison to Obama’s 133,043,317.

Obama has held the record for the most followed person on Twitter since 2020 after overtaking American singer Katy Perry who was the first person to accumulate 100 million followers.

According to the Guinness World Records and stats tracker Social Blade, over the last 30 days, Barack Obama has lost 267,585. In comparison, Musk has gained more than 3 million followers averaging at least 100,000 new followers per day.

Musk took over Twitter on October 27, 2022, after he made a $44 billion acquisition offer for the company.

Immediately after taking over the social media giant, he instituted a raft of changes that he termed would finally change the tide and turn Twitter into a success and bring profits to the company.

He sent an open letter/tweet to “Twitter Advertisers” indicating the reason for his purchase of the company.

“I acquired Twitter because it's important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” the open letter reads.

Musk’s changes to the platform include; blocking alternative ways to view Twitter, reinstating notable banned accounts and subscriptions to Twitter verification blue tick.

Other included the introduction of new different coloured verified ticks for brands, government institutions and companies, the removal of tweets that promote doxing and banning of links to other social media apps.

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