On Twitter, PM Modi has 20 million fake followers — is he about to lose them?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a man of social media. Over the last four years, if he has managed to convey a message, it is that he distrusts the majority of the press. He carefully picks who he wants to be interviewed by. For everything else, the PM relies on his massive social media presence — 43 million on Facebook and 41 million on Twitter — to do his bidding. But is his social media status, at least in real numbers, all that it’s hyped to be? Perhaps not.

Twiplomacy, a “study of the use of Twitter by world leaders”, conducted by public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller, recently found that of the 41 million followers PM Modi can boast of, more than 60 per cent are fake. Basically, 2,41,80,000 of Modi's 4,03,00,000 Twitter followers are fake.

That’s not all. They also reported that 37 per cent of US President Donald Trump’s almost 48 million Twitter followers are fake. He’s another world leader who trusts Twitter more than he trusts the media. The study also suggested that 59 per cent of the Pope’s 18 million Twitter followers are fake.

World Leaders and their Fake followersSome of the most followed world leaders and their share of bot followers as determined by https://t.co/TdNIomSdNt. Graphics prepared by @Saosasha @gzeromedia#DigitalDiplomacy pic.twitter.com/viid9ZTReV

— Twiplomacy ???? (@Twiplomacy) February 21, 2018

What are fake Twitter accounts?

Fake accounts are often run by bots — a type of software that controls a Twitter account via the Twitter API, which is programmed to perform various functions autonomously and tends to target specific keywords or types of profiles — that may follow, retweet, like or even mention another user, in order to send spam. These fake accounts are, for all intents and purposes, a way to make things look better.

If Narendra Modi’s social media presence is that significant, the bigger the number the better, right?

Twitter has been trying to deal with these bots for some time now. The 2016 US presidential elections were a defining moment for just how massive the problem is. In fact, in 2015, then Twitter CEO Dick Costolo admitted that because of bots, the microblogging platform was losing a lot of its core users, something that was also argued by Umair Haque in Harvard Business Review in 2016: “If we’re going to fix Twitter, or anything else, we must put people’s well being before our own institutional performance — because the former drives the latter. Here’s the rule that we must remember: High quality interactions expand human potential. Low quality interactions reduce, diminish, and shrink it.”

And bots are not just encountered by political leaders and religious heads with millions of followers to their credit. No. A recent Quartz report found media companies have a fake follower Twitter problem, which affects their popularity.

Is Twitter addressing the bogey?

Yes. It is suspending accounts. In February 21, Twitter suspended thousands of accounts overnight in the US. In late January, the New York Times reported that more than a million followers disappeared from the accounts of dozens of prominent Twitter users after a purge.

Should the PM be worried?

While there is federal pressure to eliminate bots in the United States — Russian involvement had affected the US presidential elections — is there any reason for Twitter to do so for the rest if the world? After all, if they persist with their purge, most users of the microblogging website would realise just how few people use it. But should they go ahead with it, the PM may just find himself in a tricky spot.

A quick Twitter audit reveals that not only is the Twiplomacy figure on point, Narendra Modi’s official handle — PMO India — too has a staggering number of fake followers. Of the total 25 million followers the account has, more than 60 per cent — that is almost 15 million — are bots.

With a total of 39 million followers out of the way or suspended, the PM will sure find himself less popular.

Of course, Twitter Audit itself may not be the most reliable tool there is. Speaking to IANS, a Twitter spokesperson said that the tool that is not the company's product to begin with uses a flawed methodology and that “their incorrect information should not be taken seriously.”

They further added that, "The scoring method is not perfect but it is a good way to tell if someone with lots of followers is likely to have increased their follower count by inorganic, fraudulent, or dishonest means".

Who the PM himself follows on Twitter has been a matter of contention in the past. One has only to look back to last September to remember how the PM was lambasted by many on social media for following toxic cyber-bullies and trolls who celebrated the assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh.

Perhaps, it is time to address the bigger questions here. If the PM is, in fact, not as widely followed as he is right now, will he be forced to look for other avenues of communication? Will rally speeches and Mann Ki Baat suffice once the government realises that they are, in fact, unable to reach as many people as they thought they could?

Or do they already know and that they do not care for it? Do they actively make an effort to bolster the PM’s social media celebrity status? Do they use the bots to their advantage, not just from a PR standpoint but also as an attempt to change the natural public narrative?

These are questions one can only hope to answer if and when Twitter comes to its senses. Until then, the PM may just continue to receive 0.7 million new followers every 30 days.

(Editor's note: A statement from Twitter has been included in the story.)

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