Nigel Farage has blamed an “algorithm” for the fall-off in the number of people following him on Twitter, as he called on the platform’s new owner to help fix the problem.
Elon Musk was urged to come to the Brexiteer’s rescue as the ex-Ukip and Brexit Party leader complained in a video about having “zero growth” for 18 months with his Twitter engagement falling to an “all-time low”.
But Farage received little sympathy on Twitter itself as many suggested it was perhaps a result of his increasing irrelevance in politics seven years after the Brexit vote, and more than a year since the UK left the European Union’s single market.
He said: “Within the last few years (growth) has completely stopped.
“I’ve had no growth on Twitter whatsoever, the stuff I put out and say gets seen by far fewer people.
“Now it could be that my stuff is really dull and boring and I have nothing interesting to say, no original thoughts whatsoever.”
With a nervous laugh, he added: “I don’t actually think that is the case.”
Farage went on to admit he didn’t know how algorithms worked before calling on Musk to “drain the Twitter swamp”. “If anyone can do it, it’s this guy,” he added.
Many people made a similar point about Farage being perhaps past his sell-by-date.