Following FAQs

What is following?

Following someone on X means:

  • You are subscribing to their posts as a follower
  • Their updates will appear in your Home timeline
  • That person is able to send you Direct Messages

What are followers?

Followers are people who receive your posts. If someone follows you:

How do I know who I'm following?

Tap or click on Following on your profile or home page to see who you've followed, displayed in a following list. You can unfollow accounts from that page if you don't want to follow them anymore.

Want to follow someone new? Learn how to follow others.

How do I know who is following me?

The followers link on your profile page or home page will show you how many followers you have and who they are. By default, X sends you an email to let you know when someone new follows you. Set up your email preferences to notify you when you have a new follower or to turn these notifications off.

Can locked accounts affect follower counts?

Yes. When accounts are locked, we remove them from follower counts across profiles globally. As a result, if an account that follows you is locked, the number of followers displayed on your profile may go down. 

How do I get followers? Can I ask someone to follow me?

There is no way to send a request for other people to follow you on X. 

Avoid third-party applications that promise to get you a lot of followers, these apps usually violate our Terms of Service and may lead to account suspension.

The best way to gain friends and fans on X is to engage with people, follow others whose posts are interesting or meaningful to you, and be an active part of the X community by reading and posting high-quality information.

Can I restrict who follows me, or sees my updates?

Yes. You can protect your posts

Protecting your posts means anyone who wants to follow you must submit a request for your approval. Only followers you approve can see your protected posts and your posts will not appear in search engine results.

How do I approve followers?

If you have protected your posts, you can approve followers from your account profile page. 

Once I start following someone, can I stop?

Yes. You can unfollow other accounts at any time. X does not send a notification when you unfollow someone.

If you have requested to follow someone whose posts are protected, then change your mind, you can cancel to undo your follow request. (The Cancel button appears on their profile in the same place as the Follow button.)

I don't want a particular person to follow me. What should I do?

You can block that account from following you. They won't be able to follow you and you will see a blocked icon when you visit their profile. To unblock an account you've blocked, visit their profile and click or tap the block icon.

Your posts won't appear in their timeline, and if they visit your profile, they will not be able to see any of your posts.

Can I remove someone from following me instead of blocking them?

Yes, you can remove any account from following you. There are two ways to remove someone. 

  • Followers list: Navigate to your followers list. Find the account you’d like to remove and tap or click on the more icon  to the right of the Follow button. Tap or click on Remove this follower. Confirm you want to remove the account by tapping or clicking on Remove.
  • Profile page: Navigate to the profile page of the account you wish to remove from following you. Tap or click on the more icon  and select Remove this follower. Confirm you want to remove the account by tapping or clicking on Remove.

Please note that removing a follower will not prevent someone from requesting to follow your account (if your posts are private) or following your account again (if your posts are public).

Note: Currently the functionality to remove an account from following you is available on web only. 

Is following the same as friend-ing someone on other social networks?

No. Following on X isn't mutual. Someone who thinks you're interesting can follow you, and you don't have to approve it or follow them back.

If you want to approve who follows your posts, protect your posts. The same rules apply—you can approve followers, but you don't have to follow them back.

What are "follow limits"?

X has follow and update limits for site stability and to control abuse.

I have a follower who posts spam and/or sensitive media.

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