X says it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 over spam and manipulation

Source: Engadget

Overview

X told UK Members of Parliament that it suspended 800 million accounts in 2024 to combat state‑backed campaigns, according to The Guardian. Wifredo Fernández, X’s head of global government affairs, explained that the suspensions occurred over a 12‑month period and were due to violations of X’s rules on platform manipulation and spam.

The majority of the accounts were allegedly linked to Russia, with additional activity from state actors in China and Iran. The Russian accounts were reportedly trying to “stoke division” and disseminate a particular narrative to influence the 2024 U.S. Presidential elections. Fernández told the foreign affairs committee that “there are efforts every single day to create inauthentic networks of accounts.”

He also noted that X suspended an additional “several hundred million accounts” in the previous year, also tied to foreign state‑backed manipulation campaigns.

User statistics

• Statista estimates X’s user base at 429 million in early 2024.
• The Guardian reports approximately 300 million monthly users worldwide.

This article originally appeared on Engadget.
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