Nearly three-quarters – 72% – of the Republican accounts gained Twitter followers in the 24-hour span from Monday mid-morning to Tuesday morning, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the Twitter followings of the official congressional accounts for 529 members of the House and Senate.
The biggest winners among GOP lawmakers were Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, Marsha Blackburn and Lauren Boebert.
Almost all Democratic lawmakers – 268 of 270 accounts – lost followers, with the biggest losers being Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Charles Schumer and Maxine Waters as well as independent Bernie Sanders.
Twitter told USA TODAY the fluctuations in follower counts were caused by new accounts being created and existing accounts being deactivated. The result shows the sharp shift in sentiment and ideological divide over Musk buying Twitter.
"While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely have been a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation," Twitter said in an emailed statement.
The scale of gains and losses stands out when compared to the same data a week ago.
From April 19 to April 20, Jordan posted the biggest overnight gain of any member of Congress with 3,506 new followers. Well-known Democrat Ilhan Omar wasn't far behind with 2,186. But the night after the Musk announcement was different. Jordan drew 63,735 new followers, while Omar gave up 5,863.
Changes in congressional follower counts mirrored a broader trend on the platform during that period anecdotally reported by Twitter users, showing follower gains for the political right and losses on the left.
Gun control activist David Hogg and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill each tweeted they had lost several thousand followers while the accounts of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Fox News Host Laura Ingraham gained followers.
Asked about billionaire Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: "We're all watching with a great deal of interest because there have been our share of complaints about the way it's been running." Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images
Jubilant conservatives who for years have accused Twitter of censoring right-wing viewpoints publicly celebrated Musk’s Twitter takeover, viewing it as a blow to Big Tech. They also applauded Musk's stated commitment to freer expression on the platform, anticipating that voices banned from Twitter for violating its rules would soon return.
Greene, whose personal account was permanently banned for repeatedly sharing misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, tweeted from her official Twitter account Monday: “Bring back President Trump. Bring back my personal account. Bring back Dr. Robert Malone. Bring back Alex Jones. Bring back Milo Yiannopoulos. Bring back the canceled nation. Bring back freedom of speech. Bring back America!”
Liberals, on the other hand, voiced anguish over changes that Twitter's soon-to-be owner might make, some even threatening threatened to delete their accounts using the hashtag #LeavingTwitter.
“One billionaire – whose estimated net worth has gotten about 10 times larger since the start of the pandemic – is about to have the power to decide how millions of people can communicate with each other,” Sen. Warren tweeted. “It’s dangerous for our democracy to have so much power in so few hands.”
Much of the consternation on the left stems from Musk’s plan to loosen content moderation on Twitter, though he has provided few details. Experts say fewer restraints on hate and other forms of speech can lead to real-world harms and stifle marginalized voices .
On Tuesday, Musk tweeted: “The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all."
"By ‘free speech,’ I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people," he wrote.
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