You will lose some of your Twitter followers
New Delhi, July 12 : Twitter has announced it will remove locked accounts -- which are disabled owing to suspicious activity -- from follower counts across profiles globally in the coming days resulting in some users seeing a drop in their base of followers.
If you lose some followers, do not fret as most people will see a change of four followers or fewer. But if you are a celebrity or a public figure, you are set to lose more followers with this exercise.
"Others with larger follower counts will experience a more significant drop. We understand this may be hard for some, but we believe accuracy and transparency make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation," Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's Legal, Policy and Trust and Safety Head, said in a blog post late on Wednesday.
The locked accounts are different from spam or bots and in most cases, these accounts were created by real people.
Twitter spots such accounts once there is a sudden changes in account behaviour -- including tweeting a large volume of unsolicited replies or mentions, tweeting misleading links, or if a large number of accounts block the account after mentioning them.
"We sometimes lock an account if we see email and password combinations from other services posted online and believe that information could put the security of an account at risk -- so we require accounts to change their passwords for protection," Gadde mentioned.
"Until we confirm that everything is ok with the account, we lock it, which makes them unable to Tweet or see ads," he added.
Twitter said your follower counts may continue to change more regularly as part of its ongoing work to proactively identify and challenge problematic accounts.
The new announcement came after The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Twitter has been suspending as many as one million questionable accounts per day in recent months and the move will lead to decline in the numbers of its monthly active users.
Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June, and the pace has continued in July.
In a tweet, Twitter CFO Ned Segal refuted the report, saying it will not affect the number of Twitter's users which currently stands at 330 million.
"Some clarifications: most accounts we remove are not included in our reported metrics as they have not been active on the platform for 30 days or more, or we catch them at sign up and they are never counted," Segal said.
"If we removed 70 million accounts from our reported metrics, you would hear directly from us. Look forward to talking more on our earnings call July 27!" Segal said in another tweet.
But the confirmation of removal of fake accounts, even if not from the reported metrics, resulted in Twitter's shares falling nearly nine per cent, erasing $3.1 billion in market value earlier this week.
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Porsche car crash case exposed systemic corruption: Pune police commissioner
Pune (PTI): The Porsche car crash case exposed "systemic corruption," but the Pune Police have successfully uncovered the nexus behind the replacement of the accused juvenile's blood samples with those of his mother, Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Wednesday.
The case made national headlines after the high-end car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old boy in an inebriated state mowed down motorcycle-borne IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa in the Kalyani Nagar area on May 19 last year.
"Last year’s Porsche car crash case sparked widespread discussions about Pune’s deteriorating social culture, alleged police corruption, and several other issues. Amid all the criticism, one positive aspect stood out: the case exposed systemic corruption.
"It also demonstrated how the police, working within the same system, managed to uncover the entire nexus behind the replacement of the juvenile’s blood samples with those of his mother," Kumar said while addressing Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, an initiative aimed at raising awareness against drug addiction, organised at Modern College.
He added that the juvenile has been released since he was a minor.
"However, his mother has remained in jail for over a year, and his father continues to be behind bars. Doctors from Sassoon Hospital and others involved are also still in jail," Kumar said, adding that one mistake by a child, and an attempt by his parents to cover it up, destroyed an entire family.
He said the police will follow up on this case until every guilty person is punished.
Kumar also appealed to students to stay away from intoxicating substances and drugs.
"You are not only endangering your own life but also putting your entire family at risk," he said, urging the youth not to fall prey to harmful addictions.
"Instead, stand strong and act as a force to ensure that drug abuse is curbed in your surroundings. We assure you of full police support," he added.
He further stated that if youth from all colleges unite and decide to end this menace, "the day is not far when not even one gram of drug will be sold in the city".
The investigation into the car crash had revealed that the juvenile's blood samples were replaced with those of his mother.
The roles of Dr Ajay Taware, head of the forensic department, Medical Officer Shreehari Halnor, and a hospital staffer came under scrutiny.
While the mother is currently out on bail, the juvenile’s father, Sassoon Hospital doctors Taware and Halnor, staffer Atul Ghatkamble, two middlemen, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, and others remain in jail for the alleged blood sample swap.
