Anupam Kher took to his social media platform X on Thursday to share his concerns with the microblogging site and his fans after he lost around 900,000 followers in just 15 days. “Dear Mr. @elonmusk! I lost over 900,000 followers in the last 15 days! Would you know the reason! Or anyone in your team? By the way, this is an OBSERVATION, not a COMPLAINT! Still,” Kher wrote. In no time, fans and followers on social media started sharing their views. “I think they are removing non-performing or bot accounts right now so this is the new normal,” one user wrote. Another added: “Maybe those followers were inactive or their profiles were deleted.” An official response later clarified the situation. Grok offered an explanation. Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company, also addressed the issue. It said: “Based on recent reports, X is purging millions of fake, bot and dormant accounts to improve platform authenticity. This has caused consequences for many, including celebrities like Justin Bieber (20 million loss) and Ronaldo (9 million). Anupam Kher’s 900,000 drop is unlikely to stem from this purge.” X reportedly ran a major crash cleanup in mid-November to remove spam accounts, improve authenticity, and reduce spam in replies. The purge particularly affected high-profile figures, including Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Ronaldo, who all saw noticeable declines in their follower numbers. The sudden drops led to widespread discussions about engagement metrics on the platform. By October, the platform had already removed around 1.7 million bots responsible for reply spam, including crypto ads. The effort intensified around November 27, with several suspicious foreign influencer and impersonator accounts also quietly removed. Responding to concerns, X assured users that there was no cause for alarm as the drop in followers was simply the result of the bot removal rather than genuine users leaving. The initiative forms part of Elon Musk’s ongoing campaign against spam. Earlier actions included a major crackdown in April 2024. Which accounts are targeted? The purge focused on: Bot accounts posting spam replies, crypto scams or automated spam content. Fake or automated profiles used to inflate follower numbers or create fake engagement. Accounts involved in impersonation, fake locations or DM spam. The company plans to focus more on DM spam next. Inactive or long-abandoned accounts, which were also removed as part of the cleanup.