Democrats’ Trust and Favorability in Twitter Plummets Following Musk Take Over

But advertisers aren’t the only one’s getting cold feet: some prominent celebrities are jumping ship too. As of this week, “Gray’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, musician Toni Braxton, and model Gigi Hadid all either deactivated their accounts or expressed interest in leaving the site in the days after Musk gained control over Twitter.

“I’m gonna get out,” Goldberg said on The View. “If it [Twitter] settles down and I feel more comfortable maybe I’ll come back but as of tonight I’m done with Twitter.”

On the flip side, Musk’s Twitter saga appears to have benefited some prominent Republican and conservative users on the site. Back in April, when Musk finalized a deal to acquire Twitter, influential conservative accounts reportedly saw their follower counts shoot up at rates ten times higher than normal, according to statistics analyzed by The Verge.

Follower counts for prominent conservative accounts increased following Musk’s recent takeover as well. Trump-backed Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake reportedly gained 18,000 followers in the 24 hours after Musk took the helm, according to Memetica data viewed by The New York Times. Far right political commentator Candace Owens reportedly gained over 3,700 new followers during that same time period, an increase 300% above her normal follower gains. Fox News, Donald Trump Jr, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and The Babylon Bee amassed some of the biggest followers gains in the immediate aftermath of Musk’s takeover. Prominent Democratic accounts, like those of Kamala Harris and Barack Obama, meanwhile witnessed some of the largest follower losses on the platform.