Twitter was set ablaze late Tuesday evening after the social media platform restricted and locked thousands of conservative, pro-Trump accounts.
Twitter users also experienced a huge drop in followers and used the hashtag #TwitterLockOut to discuss the purge.
A woman named Gretchen Smith tweeted a picture of herself Wednesday morning and said she is indeed a real person who founded ‘Code of Vets’ yet she was locked out and lost 3300 followers.
My name is Gretchen Smith😊I am not a bot! I am the founder of Code of Vets and the Spokesperson for StumpforTrump🇺🇸I was locked out and I lost 3300 followers! Please check to ensure we are following each other! Veterans and Patriots united in a Grassroots Firestorm… pic.twitter.com/txEVoWjLeb
— Gretchen Smith (@codeofvets) February 21, 2018
More users tweeted to each other asking if anyone else lost tons of followers at once.
I just lost almost 1,000 followers at once. Anyone else lose a ton of followers at once?? #TwitterLockOut
— Cristina Laila (@cristinalaila1) February 21, 2018
One Twitter user reported Twitter is forcing people to verify themselves with phone numbers.
Twitter is purging bots.
They are forcing people to verify phone numbers.
Hashtag #TwitterLockOut
I’ve lost a bunch pic.twitter.com/FJVu0ADXQG
— Mike (@Fuctupmind) February 21, 2018
Fox News contributor Charles Payne chimed in as well.
Hello @jack a lot of people are asking about #TwitterLockOut could the company please provide the criteria for erasing followers while folks sleep. I know there is a lot of pressure to be more responsible in curbing certain actions but that shouldn’t extend to muting opinions
— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) February 21, 2018
Gab, a free speech social media platform tweeted, “If you were locked out of Twitter tonight reply to this tweet with a screenshot of it if you have one.”
If you were locked out of Twitter tonight reply to this tweet with a screenshot of it if you have one.
— Gab: Free Speech Social Network (@getongab) February 21, 2018
Twitter users responded with screenshots of a message they received from Twitter.
The message reads, “What happened? Your account appears to have exhibited automated behavior that violates the Twitter rules. To unlock your account, please complete the steps below and confirm you are the valid account owner.”
The Twitter users were then prompted to provide their phone numbers.
— TEXAS ⭐️BACON (@bacon_texas) February 21, 2018
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe slammed Twitter and posted one of his undercover videos of a Twitter engineer claiming anyone tweeting about the American flag, guns and God is “for sure a bot.”
O’Keefe tweeted: Looks like thousands of Twitter users committed the thought crime of tweeting about “God,” “the American flag,” and “guns,” and were taken off the platform. Our undercover reporting into Twitter showed those terms indicate to engineers you are “for sure a bot.” #TwitterLockOut
Looks like thousands of Twitter users committed the thought crime of tweeting about “God,” “the American flag,” and “guns,” and were taken off the platform. Our undercover reporting into Twitter showed those terms indicate to engineers you are “for sure a bot.” #TwitterLockOut pic.twitter.com/hI88iUEcCD
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 21, 2018
It is also important to note that Democrats Adam Schiff and Dianne Feinstein urged Twitter to do a forensic investigation into accounts after users tweeted the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo.
The Democrat lawmakers claimed Russian bots pushed the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign. Perhaps Twitter purged thousands of accounts at the behest of Democrat lawmakers.
The Gateway Pundit spoke to several Twitter users affected by the Twitter purge. Every single one of these Twitter users are real people with established accounts.
It also appeared that many people’s accounts were restored Wednesday, once again proving that conservatives on Twitter are not ‘Russian bots’.
Another epic failure by Twitter and the left.
Twitter did not release a statement about the purge at the time of this publication.
