- Far-right figures gained thousands of new Twitter followers in the 24 hours before Musk took over.
- Among these new followers, thousands were new to the platform, researchers told The New York Times.
Far-right figures gained thousands of followers, including many from newly created accounts, in the 24 hours leading up to Elon Musk's takeover, according to a digital-investigations company.
Memetica found that multiple far-right representatives gained a substantial number of new followers, including thousands of accounts set up the same day Musk sealed the deal.
Dan Scavino, a former White House chief of staff who served during the Trump administration, gained just over 16,000 new followers from accounts created on or after October 27, per Memetica's data.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert gained almost 18,700 new followers in the 24 hours leading up to Musk's takeover, with nearly half of those followers being new accounts. That was 1,200% higher than the normal rate of new followers.
Ben Decker, the CEO of Memetica, told Insider the findings were alarming because those who gained followers "are really well-known purveyors of disinformation, harassment, and hate."
While researchers still need clarification about Twitter's moderation plans, he said that "Rome hasn't officially burned to the ground yet."
"The research shows us that the rapid follower growth of influential right-wing accounts, alongside calls on fringe platforms to try and go back to Twitter, is, at least in the short term, likely to create higher volumes of harassment, hate, and politically-motivated disinformation on the platform, as Twitter's new management will be put to the ultimate test," Decker said.
Other Twitter accounts with a surge of new followers include Arizona Rep. Kari Lake with 18,000 followers, including 3,100 new accounts; and conservative media personality Candace Owens, who amassed 3,700 followers, 2,300 of which were new.
These people have pushed Donald Trump's baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential elections. "The more followers and wider reach these accounts have, the more distribution these ideas have," Decker told The New York Times.
Twitter didn't respond to Insider's request for comment.
There is no evidence, however, that the phenomenon is directly linked to Musk becoming the new owner of the social-media platform. The new accounts "could be an indication that far-right people are migrating back to Twitter as they see the potential for a more friendly environment," Decker told The Times.
Meanwhile, Social Blade, a social-media-analytics firm, found that progressive politicians and celebrities were losing followers. The accounts with the biggest losses include former President Barack Obama, Rep. Alexandria Ocazio-Cortez, and the MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
Musk's ownership of Twitter is concerning some organizations. Paul Barrett, the deputy director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, told The Times: "The danger here is that in the name of 'free speech,' Musk will turn back the clock and make Twitter into a more potent engine of hatred, divisiveness, and misinformation about elections, public-health policy, and international affairs."
The self-described "free-speech absolutist" billionaire addressed some of the concerns in a Friday tweet, saying that he would be forming a "content-moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints."
Musk added: "No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes."