John McCain suffered the wrath of Twitter earlier this week when he asked for more followers on the social network – only to lose thousands.
The Republican Senator for Arizona tweeted the appeal on Monday evening to help him reach the 3million mark.
‘We’re only 74 Twitter followers away from 3M,’ he wrote. ‘Spread the word & help us reach this big milestone!’
But his ambitious request was met with an instant wall of hostility and the subsequent ‘#UnfollowMcCain’ campaign.
John McCain suffered the wrath of Twitter earlier this week when he asked for more followers on the social network
The Republican Senator for Arizona tweeted an appeal on Monday evening to help him reach the 3million mark
The protest movement was initially very successful with the senator losing nearly 20,000 followers overnight.
Many angry users attacked him for voting in favor of his party’s controversial tax bill last week.
Two days later, however, the politician has seemingly recovered and surpassed his goal with 3,005,428 followers.
But the swift recovery after such a blow has caused many to question the authenticity of some of his new followers’ accounts.
Posting a screengrab of McCain’s follower list last night, Twitter user Deacon Blues wrote: ‘John McCain’s account has regained almost all of the losses from yesterday.
‘A random sampling shows almost all of them are accounts opened in Dec. 2017. Yup. Not a typo, Dec 2017 – This Week.’
Critics accused the politician of flip-flopping on his position on the legislation, which included major revisions in its final hours, just months after he stressed the return of regular order in the senate.
On Monday Democratic Coalition chairman Jon Cooper wrote: ‘ So, after helping pass the horrible #GOPTaxScam bill and voting to take away healthcare from millions of Americans, John McCain’s top priority now is to reach 3M Twitter followers.
‘If you’re following this selfish hypocrite, today would be a great day to #UnfollowMcCain!’
The Coalition’s co-founder, Scott Dworkin, tweeted: ‘John McCain has the courage to ask for more followers on Twitter, but not enough courage to fight for health care for Americans. Got it. #UnfollowMcCain.’
Other Twitter users also expressed their disapproval.
Luis Otero wrote: ‘Join me in unfollowing McCain. He cares more about how many twitter followers he has than protecting the average American. Shame on you.’
McCain’s swift recovery after such a blow has caused many to question the authenticity of some of his new followers’ accounts.
Replying to the Senator’s original tweet another user wrote: ‘Unfollowed… Should have reconsidered that tax vote.’
While another, Deborah Stahl, wrote: ‘Based on your tax vote no, unfollowing you.’
Users were quick to question the senator’s comeback with many claiming that his new followers are fake accounts.
Rock star Mike Jollett wrote: ‘OK this is stupid but since so many people are unfollowing John McCain, an army of bots has started following him to make up for it.’
MailOnline has approached John McCain’s office for comment.