Trump meets Twitter CEO, complains about lost followers

WASHINGTON- Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump met with Twitter Inc Chief Executive Jack Dorsey on April 23 and spent a significant time questioning him about why he had lost some Twitter followers, a person briefed on the matter said.

The meeting, which was organized by the White House last week, came hours after Trump again attacked the social media company over his allegations it is biased against conservatives.

"Great meeting this afternoon at the @WhiteHouse with @Jack from @Twitter. Lots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general. Look forward to keeping an open dialogue!" Trump tweeted, posting a photo of Dorsey and others with him in the Oval Office.

Dorsey, who had not previously met with Trump, replied in a tweet: "Thank you for the time. Twitter is here to serve the entire public conversation, and we intend to make it healthier and more civil. Thanks for the discussion about that."

The source, who was briefed on the meeting that included Twitter's general counsel and public policy chief, said Dorsey explained in response to Trump's concerns about losing followers that the company was working to remove fraudulent and spam accounts and that many famous people, including Dorsey himself, had lost followers as a result.

Earlier on April 23, Trump suggested Twitter was biased against him, without providing evidence. He wrote on Twitter that the company does not "treat me well as a Republican. Very discriminatory."

Trump has been upset about losing followers. Trump lost 204,000, or 0.4 percent, of his 53.4 million followers in July, according to social media data firm Keyhole, when Twitter started its purge of suspicious accounts after it and other social media services were used in misinformation campaigns attempting to influence voters in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and other elections.

In October, Trump wrote that "Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join - they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?"

Shares in Twitter jumped 13 percent on April 23 after it reported quarterly revenue above analyst estimates, which executives said was the result of weeding out spam and abusive posts and targeting ads better.