*By Conor White*
Shares of Twitter plunged on Monday over concerns a crackdown on fake accounts could hamper user growth.
The company [reportedly](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/07/06/twitter-is-sweeping-out-fake-accounts-like-never-before-putting-user-growth-risk/) banned over 70 million accounts in the last two months and is suspending more than a million handles a day.
But Mashable tech reporter Matt Binder said it was an action Twitter had to take.
"I think they should keep doing this until they actually have the accounts that are causing this sort of problem," he said in an interview with Cheddar Monday. "They'll never really completely wipe it out, but they should continue dealing with it for as long as it takes to keep this to a minimum."
Binder said the purpose of these accounts can vary between anything from users creating fake accounts to boost their own following to bots actually trying to spread disinformation.
He pointed out that the company has faced a series of damaging crises.
"One was, for example, the Russia-linked internet research agency ," Binder said. "They were proven to be - both on Facebook and Twitter accounts - paying for ads to promote these accounts or these posts to try and sway the election."
"Again, whether that was something that worked or not, or how influential it was, that's besides the point."
Twitter shares were down as much as 9.8 percent in early trade Monday, but pared those losses after CFO Ned Segal [tweeted](https://twitter.com/nedsegal/status/1016371745933033472) that most of the accounts removed are not counted in the company's metrics.
For the full segment, [click here.]( https://cheddar.com/videos/twitter-cracks-down-on-fake-accounts)
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
