Mitt Romney Accused of Buying Twitter Followers

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Mitt Romney's Twitter account is creating controversy not because of any actual tweets, but because of a sudden and dramatic spike in followers. The presidential hopeful gained more than 135,000 new followers over the weekend; prior to that, he'd been racking them up at a rate of 3,000 to 4,000 per day. The Twitter tracking site 140elect.com noticed the extraordinary growth, and folks in the Twitterverse immediately began tweeting their own theories. Here's one: "That awkward moment when people notice Mitt Romney has been buying followers."

Others suggest the followers aren't even human. Certain signs point to the possibility that some new arrivals could be "Twitter bots," as they have trouble spelling certain words and have no followers of their own. The Romney campaign's digital director, Zac Moffatt, rejects that theory, saying, "We have reached out to Twitter to find out additional information regarding the rapid growth. "