Elon Musk's X follower count bloated by millions of new, inactive accounts

Elon Musk is by far the most followed user on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired in October of last year. With more than 153 million followers at the time of publication, Musk’s account @ElonMusk is basically a microcosm of the platform as a whole.So, who are Musk’s followers in relation to the platform? How active are they? How often do they post? Are they consuming a lot of creator content on X? Do they subscribe to Musk’s subscription plan, X Premium, formerly known as Twitter Blue? Are Musk’s followers real?Mashable has reviewed new data collected by third-party researcher Travis Brown, who compiled basic account information on all of Musk’s more than 153 million followers via a meticulous process that respected X’s rate limit parameters. SEE ALSO: Elon Musk’s creator monetization program fails to convince many to pay for X Premium What we found is…concerning.Who are Elon Musk’s X followers?The most pressing question for the majority of people is likely whether Musk’s followers are fake. Inactive is the better word to use here as it more aptly describes what the data shows. And a lot of Musk’s followers have traits that would lead people to ascertain that they are not actually using the site.Of the 153,209,283 X accounts following Musk at the time the data was collected, around 42 percent of Musk’s followers, or more than 65.3 million users, have zero followers on their own account. Just over 72 percent, or nearly 112 million,…Elon Musk's X follower count bloated by millions of new, inactive accounts