Trump Complains To Twitter About His Follower Count

Ken AshfordSocial Media & Networking, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Imagine being the most powerful man in the world with access to intelligence and data that could make any human’s mind spin with amazement.

Now imagine using that power to drag in the CEO of Twitter to complain that your follower count isn’t as high as the previous President.

President Trump on Tuesday met privately with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, a huddle at the White House between one of the site’s most prolific users and an executive who’s faced criticism for the way Twitter has handled the president’s tweets.

The meeting came as Trump continues to attack the tech industry, threatening to regulate Facebook, Google and Twitter out of concern that they censor conservatives online — an allegation those companies fiercely deny. The president’s latest salvo arrived just hours before he met with Dorsey: Trump accused Twitter of playing “political games” and tampering with his nearly 60 million followers.

A significant portion of the meeting focused on Trump’s concerns that Twitter quietly, and deliberately, has limited or removed some of his followers, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity because it was private. Trump said he had heard from fellow conservatives who had lost followers for unclear reasons as well.

But Twitter long has explained that follower figures fluctuate as the company takes action to remove fraudulent spam accounts. In the meeting, Dorsey stressed that point, noting even he had lost followers as part of Twitter’s work to enforce its policies, according to the source, who described the meeting as cordial.

***

Asked about the meeting, the White House did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, Twitter said the meeting — initiated by the president — focused on “protecting the health of the public conversation ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections and efforts underway to respond to the opioid crisis.” Twitter partners with the federal government on a program to encourage Americans to dispose of prescription drugs they no longer need to prevent against abuse.

There is no bottom to the shallowness of this broken, sad man.

Aaaaand he’s back at it this morning.