In two months, Twitter suspends over 70 million accounts

Twitter Inc. suspended more than one million accounts in recent months to reduce the flow of misinformation on the platform. Twitter and other social media platforms such as Facebook Inc. have been under scrutiny by United States lawmakers and international regulators for doing too little to prevent the spread of false content.  

The companies have been taking steps such as deleting user accounts, introducing updates and actively monitoring content to help users avoid being victims to fake content. Twitter suspended more than 70 million accounts in May and June, and the pace has continued in July, the media reported on Friday, citing data it obtained.  

“It’s hard to believe that 70 million accounts were affected when Twitter has only 336 million monthly active users (MAU),” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said. Twitter’s MAU is expected to grow nearly three per cent to 337.06 in the second quarter, according to media.  

If the 70 million were mostly active accounts, the affected accounts would have been “screaming bloody murder”, added the analyst.