Ray Lewis loses half his Twitter followers amid fake account scrub

Ray Lewis enjoyed a storied career with the Baltimore Ravens and frequently posts motivational thoughts on his Twitter account, but it turns out those weren't the reasons why his profile attracted many of his followers.

As Twitter began wiping out fake accounts across its platform this week, Lewis lost approximately half his followers, going from over 700,000 to around 363,000. The retired linebacker, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, supposedly bought fake followers from a company called Devumi.

Lewis isn't the only celebrity to lose a significant number of followers - Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Katy Perry, and Shaquille O'Neal have all lost over 1 million - but Lewis' drop of nearly 50 percent is severely disproportionate compared to others.

Twitter users with more modest followings are expected to lose about a handful of their followers.

- With h/t to The Washington Post