Mark Hamill claims he lost thousands of Twitter followers in hours after Elon Musk sale agreed

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Mark Hamill has revealed he lost thousands of followers on Twitter in the space of a few hours yesterday (25 April).

While the exact reason for the exodus has not been confirmed, his tweet came shortly after it was announced that Elon Musk is set to purchase the social media platform in a deal worth $44bn.

Since the news broke, many users of the site (including Jameela Jamil) have announced their intention to delete their accounts, owing to Musk’s reputation as a politically controversial figure. It is believed this could be the reason for Hamill’s loss in followers.

“Weird. I just lost more than 8,000 followers in the last couple of hours,” wrote Hamill. “Was it something I said?”

He made the tweet in response to a similar tweet from Joe Biden’s senior advisor Neera Tanden, in which she remarked that 2,000 followers had just left her account.

Shortly before his tweet, Hamill wrote explicitly about the Musk deal, announcing his intention to remain on the website in future.

Wrote the Star Wars actor: “No matter who owns it, no matter who’s on it, I’m staying to engage with you, listen to diverse opinions & to keep fighting the good fight! (also, to keep posting the inane tweets I’m known for) #TwitterTenacity.”

While many Twitter users speculated that Hamill’s drop-off in followers was related to Musk, the social media site does occasionally purge groups of inactive or “bot” accounts, which could offer another explanation.

Follow latest updates on the Musk-Twitter deal here.