Mass Account Suspensions on X (formerly Twitter) Cause Widespread Concern, 'Suspension Festival' Trends

On December 6th, numerous accounts on the SNS platform 'X' (formerly Twitter) were suddenly suspended, an event that caused a significant stir among users and led to 'Suspension Festival' (Tōketsu Matsuri) becoming a trending topic.

Many users reported 'a sudden drop in followers' and 'being suspended without any clear reason,' leading to widespread confusion and anxiety. Some even reported losing tens to over a hundred followers within a few days. One user posted, 'A Suspension Festival right before Comiket results are announced... this isn't good,' raising concerns about the potential impact on upcoming events.

According to a report by Denfaminicogamer, emails from official X channels cited 'violations of rules prohibiting manipulation' as the reason for the suspensions. However, many users claim they 'have no idea why they were suspended,' leading to questions about the unclear criteria. Furthermore, these suspensions appear to be occurring not only in Japan but worldwide.

While some express hope that this is an effort to remove 'impression zombies' – accounts that repeatedly engage in spammy or annoying behavior – concerns are also being raised that 'legitimate accounts might be getting caught in the crossfire.' Posts referring to this as 'Autumn Suspension Festival' suggest that similar incidents have occurred in the past.

This 'Suspension Festival' has further eroded user trust in X's terms of service and system operations, and users are now demanding further explanations and action from X's management.

The context

X is a social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, which underwent a rebranding in 2023. 'Tōketsu Matsuri' (凍結祭り), literally meaning 'Suspension Festival' or 'Frozen Festival,' is a Japanese term that trended on X to describe a sudden, mass suspension of user accounts. 'Comiket' refers to the Comic Market, one of the world's largest doujinshi (self-published works) conventions held semi-annually in Japan, where participants often await announcements of whether their applications to exhibit have been accepted. 'Impression zombies' (インプレゾンビ) is a term used by Japanese users to describe accounts that post low-quality or irrelevant content primarily to generate impressions and potentially earn revenue through X's ad-sharing program, often engaging in spam-like behavior.