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October 20, 2020updated 30 Sep 2022 9:40am

The top ten most-followed news accounts on Twitter

By William Turvill

CNN controls the two most followed news accounts on Twitter, research by Press Gazette has found.

The organisation’s breaking news profile, @cnnbrk, currently has 58.9m followers, making it the platform’s 16th largest account in the world, according to Social Blade.

CNN’s other main Twitter account, @CNN, has 50m followers, making it the second largest news account ahead of the New York Times’ @nytimes in third with 47.5m.

Like CNN, the BBC has two news accounts in the top ten. In fourth place, @BBCBreaking channel has 45.7m followers, while @BBCWorld is in seventh with 29.2m followers.

The other four brands making up Press Gazette’s top ten most followed news accounts on Twitter list are ESPN’s @SportsCenter (fifth with 37m followers) and @ESPN (sixth with 35.9m), @TheEconomist (eighth with 25m), @NatGeo (ninth with 24.5m) and @Reuters (tenth with 22.4m).

Large newsbrands that narrowly miss out on the top ten include @FoxNews (19.8m followers), the Wall Street Journal’s @WSJ (18m), @TIME (17.4m) and @washingtonpost (16.4m).

Social Blade’s top 100 ranking shows that only one company brand, @YouTube, comes ahead of @cnnbrk. The other 14 accounts ahead of the CNN account represent individuals, with @BarackObama, @justinbieber and @katyperry making up the top three.

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