Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday revealed that he had once written to ‘X’ boss Elon Musk regarding a drop in followers on the social media platform, but instead of a resolution, he got a response from the team of Musk’s lawyers strongly deny any problems. The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who is an active user of the X platform, formerly Twitter, said that numerous users had flagged him about the stagnant follower count, which eventually forced him to address the issue publicly.

Responding to a user’s question about why his follower count remained at 8.4 million for several years despite his wide appeal, Tharoor explained: “Good question. This has been the case for four years! A source at the old Twitter India told me there was a problem he couldn’t figure out: he reviewed my daily stats for six months and found a strange pattern – my followers were growing by over 1,000 per day, about 60 – 70 ‘counted’ me every day, but my follower total would not exceed 8.495 million.”

Good question. It’s been like this for four years! A source at the old Twitter India told me there was a problem he couldn’t figure out: he reviewed my daily stats for six months and found a strange pattern – my followers grew by over 1,000 per day, about 60 – 70… https://t.co/IpfTJpMvwt

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 17, 2024

Tharoor added that his source at Twitter India suspects an algorithm error. “Since my account is never ‘suggested’ for anyone to follow and many of my followers complain that they don’t get most of my posts on their timelines, I wondered if I had been ‘shadowbanned’. (My source has since left @ X),” he wrote.

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Elon Musk’s Legal Team Responds To Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP Says ‘Followers Now Declining Unsteadily Every Day’

The congressional leader said that after observing the issue for three years, he contacted Elon Musk directly, but received a response from a lawyer. “…I got a letter from a lawyer instead – flatly denying there was a problem! So much for corporate responsiveness…” he remarked.

He also pointed out that, ironically, the number of followers has decreased since his investigation. “The only practical consequence of my investigation is that my follower count is now dropping unsteadily every day – from a peak of 8,495m to 8,429m today. There is clearly something wrong that the people in charge of @XCorpIndia don’t care about. But more and more people noticed and asked me, so I finally decided to go public,” he wrote.

Acknowledging that stagnant follower numbers may seem trivial compared to pressing public issues, Tharoor said: “But whether it’s deliberate or accidental, I hope the questioners understand there is a problem. @XCorpIndia – but I’m not holding my breath.”