Why Amitabh Bachchan threatened to quit Twitter

No, it is NOT because Shah Rukh Khan now has more Twitter followers!

If you are one of those who suddenly saw a drop in your followers section on Twitter, then you might want to read this.

According to The New York Times, more than a million followers have vanished from various accounts, belonging to dozens of prominent users, as the micro-blogging site faces growing scrutiny about fake accounts and the shadowy firms that peddle fake followers.

Entrepreneurs, athletes and celebrities, many of whom bought Twitter followers or artificial engagement from a company called Devumi, are among those who have been heavily affected by this.

Twitter has vowed to take action against Devumi for their abuse of the platform, but the company refused to respond when asked if they were behind the recent mass account deletion.

However, the company said in a a tweet, 'The tactics used by Devumi on our platform and others as described by today's NYT article violate our policies and are unnacceptable to us. We are working to stop them and any companies like them.'

Some of the popular users affected by the mass account deletion include actor John Leguizamo, American Idol singer Clay Aiken, and British businesswoman and Twitter board member Martha Lane Fox.

The company's campaign against bots comes as US lawmakers and law enforcement officials are scrutinizing Devumi, where numerous websites sell fake followers or engagement on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms.

It has affected celebrities in India too, with superstar Amitabh Bachchan threatening to quit Twitter as he accused the organisation of reducing the number of his followers.

The actor wrote on Twitter, "T 2599 - TWITTER!!!?? You reduced my number of followers!!??HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! thats a joke time to get off from you. thank you for the ride. there are many 'other' fish in the sea - and a lot more exciting !!"

With 3,29,45,520 followers, superstar Shah Rukh Khan is now Bollywood's most-followed personality on the micro-blogging site. Bachchan, at the time of publication, had 3,29,05,317 followers.