The Biggest Losers of the Twitter Purge: How Many Followers the Most Popular Celebrities Lost

Katy Perry - Lost 2.8 million

As the reigning queen of Twitter with more followers than anyone in the world, Katy Perry was especially at risk of losing a hefty amount of followers. The "Roar" singer lost 2.8 million followers, going from 109.6 million on Wednesday to 106.8 million by midday Thursday.

In an effort to clean up suspicious accounts, Twitter announced Wednesday that it is purging Twitter users that it had previously flagged and frozen when users were not able to verify that they created the account or change its password.

Justin Bieber - Lost around 2 million

The second-most followed person on Twitter, the newly-engaged Justin Bieber, also saw a large drop in his follower count, which went down by around 2 million users.

The purge isn't necessarily wiping out spam accounts or bots, but rather accounts created by real people who cannot confirm that they are the original creator of the profile. Twitter previously flagged certain accounts when it "detects sudden changes in account behavior," according to a company blog post from Vijaya Gadde, who serves as the company's legal, policy and trust and safety lead.

Barack Obama - Lost around 2 million

Former president Barack Obama also lost around 2 million followers in the hours after the purge, putting him at 101 million.

Twitter announced the purge Wednesday, with Gadde writing that most users will only see a drop in four or less followers.

"Most people will see a change of four followers or fewer; others with larger follower counts will experience a more significant drop," she said. "We understand this may be hard for some, but we believe accuracy and transparency make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation."

Taylor Swift - Lost 1.8 million

Pop music darling Taylor Swift lost 1.8 million followers, landing her in the neighborhood of 83.3 million.

After The New York Times published a report revealing that many celebrities, politicians and other public figures had purchased followers (often consisting of fake accounts or bots) in an effort to bolster their numbers on social media, Twitter's vice president for trust and safety said the platform doesn't want to encourage illegitimate numbers.

"We don't want to incentivize the purchase of followers and fake accounts to artificially inflate follower counts, because it's not an accurate measure of someone's influence on the platform or influence in the world," Del Harvey told The Times. "We think it's a really important and meaningful metric, and we want people to have confidence that these are engaged users that are following other accounts."

Donald Trump - Lost almost 196,000 followers

President Donald Trump lost nearly 196,000 followers on his personal @realDonaldTrump account, sending him down to 53.1 million. However, it's worth noting that his official @POTUS account has gained followers since the purge and now sits around 23.6 million followers.

Gadde said Wednesday that though changes were set to take place immediately, "follower counts may continue to change more regularly as part of our ongoing work to proactively identify and challenge problematic accounts."

Rihanna - Lost 856,000

Rihanna lost 856,000 followers since the changes have set in, putting her at 86.8 million. On par with Gadde's statement, it's unclear whether the full scope of the purge has already been felt or if Twitter users will continue to see a drop in their follower counts.