Elon Musk Officially Surpasses Barack Obama as World's Most-Followed

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has overtaken former President Barack Obama as the platform’s most-followed account.

As of Friday morning, Musk had 133,190,268 followers, according to his Twitter profile. Obama’s profile showed him as having 133,029,295 followers.

Running down the list of top accounts, Fox Business cited Justin Bieber as the third most-followed account with 113.31 million followers. Others with vast followings include entertainers Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Lady Gaga, plus Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.

Former President Donald Trump, who was removed from Twitter in 2021 and has returned but hadn’t tweeted again as of Friday morning, has about 87.3 million followers.

Musk’s account offers his eclectic mix of commentary on whatever strikes him and debate over Twitter’s policies.

I’m not brainwashed!! pic.twitter.com/4kx61uu4yy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 28, 2022

For example, Musk recently announced that as of April 15, only verified accounts that pay a monthly fee will be in Twitter’s For You recommendations.

That brought an irate response from actor William Shatner.

“I’ve been here for 15 years giving my (clock emoji) & witty thoughts all for bupkis,” Shatner tweeted, according to Fox Business. “Now you’re telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free?”

Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.

The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.

Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023

It’s more about treating everyone equally. There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities imo. https://t.co/rWi99sGPdq

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2023

According to a report by Bloomberg, Musk is on top, but Twitter might be less so.

Per data it said came from Mathematics, the top 10 advertisers on Twitter spent $71 million from September to October. That figure is down to $7.6 million over the past two months, the report said.

Twitter’s revenue has dropped by 50 percent since October, according to the report.

Bloomberg said Musk’s tweets are one source of consternation, quoting a media buyer it did not name.

“It’s this intangible wild card,” the buyer said. “We need to work with clients to understand from a values perspective: Is this a partner you want to be in business with?”

Musk wears multiple hats, and as the CEO of Tesla, he is planning to head to China as early as next month, Reuters reported, citing sources.

China is Tesla’s second-largest market in the world, after the United States.

Musk reportedly is seeking a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who was the local official in charge of Shanghai when Musk’s massive Tesla plant there opened.

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