Twitter says that it locked or suspended a total of 1,254,226 unique accounts for violating its rules in the first half of 2019 – a 105% increase compared with the second half of 2018.
The statistics were released in the latest Twitter Transparency Report and reflect a period where there were a large number of questionable Twitter suspensions which included parody accounts, independent journalists, and even the basketball team the Houston Rockets.
Twitter suspensions in the second half of 2019 have continued this trend with more parody accounts, politicians highlighting violent threats being made against them, and human rights activists being suspended.
In addition to increasing and locking accounts, Twitter has announced that it plans to prevent likes, retweets, and replies on some tweets from President Trump and other world leaders.
While Twitter’s leadership is focused on suspending accounts and reducing the engagement on some tweets from world leaders, Twitter’s shares are plummeting. Last week, the company released its Q3 earnings report and said it’s making conversational “health” its top priority. Shares plunged by almost 20% after the release of the earnings report and have continued to fall since its publication.
