PM Modi crosses 100 million X followers, netizens share 2018 report showing 60% fake followers
Similar claims where made when he crossed previous milestones in 2021 and 2012
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official Twitter account, @narendramodi, has crossed a significant milestone by surpassing 100 million followers.
The achievement sparked congratulations from BJP leaders and trended widely on X. However, amidst the celebration, controversy arose as users shared a 2018 study suggesting that Modi had a substantial percentage of fake followers, a claim also highlighted when he crossed previous milestones in 2021 (70 million followers) and 2012 (1 million followers).
Several social media users pointed to a 2018 study conducted by the social media site, which claimed that Modi had the highest percentage of fake followers — 60 per cent.
According to a study by Status People back in 2012, approximately 46% of Modi's followers are deemed fake, while 41% are inactive. This information, provided by engineers based in London, had led to discussions about the authenticity of Modi's massive follower base in 2012 when he had reached 1M followers.
Since its inception in 2009, PM Modi's account has steadily accumulated followers, reflecting his strategic use of Twitter to bolster his social media presence. Previous analyses, including a 2015 study by the University of Michigan found that a combination of carefully crafted tweets and strategic followbacks to other Twitter accounts helped the PM build a powerful social media brand.
“PM Modi is fake from top to bottom, even his followers are FAKE,” one user tweeted sharing the old study of 2018.
Despite the milestone, debates surrounding the methods used to expand PM Modi's X following continue to resonate on social media platforms. Netizens have been pretty vocal in calling out PM Modi for fake followers.
BREAKING NEWS ➖ PM Modi is fake from top to bottom, even his followers are FAKE ⚡⚡
— Ravinder Kapur. (@RavinderKapur2) July 14, 2024
Twitter ( now X ) says Narendra Modi has 60% fake followers and he's No 2 on the list of fake followers on Twitter around the world. pic.twitter.com/RtvTvJKk3U
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
