PM Modi now has 100 million followers on X (Twitter)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi now has more than 100 million followers on his X (formerly Twitter) account. He is among the top 10 most followed X accounts in the world.

On Sunday (July 14), PM Modi's personal handle (@narendramodi) crossed the 100-million followers mark.

Currently, he is the seventh-most followed person on X. Modi joined Twitter in January 2009.

In a post, PM Modi said, "A hundred million on @X! Happy to be on this vibrant medium and cherish the discussion, debate, insights, people’s blessings, constructive criticism and more. Looking forward to an equally engaging time in the future as well."

X owner Elon Musk is the No. 1 on the list with more than 189 million followers.

Officials noted that his followers are quite a few times more in number in comparison to most followed opposition leaders like AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and Congress' Rahul Gandhi who have 27.5 million and 26.4 million followers respectively.

Among other heads of government with a large following are US President Joe Biden (38.1 million) and Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Eedogen (21.5 million).

An official was quoted as saying by PTI, "PM Modi has more followers even compared to active global athletes like Virat Kohli (64.1 million), Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr (63.6 million) and American basketball player LeBron James (52.9 million)." "He is ahead of even celebrities like Taylor Swift (95.3 million), Lady Gaga (83.1 million), and Kim Kardashian (75.2 million)," the official said.

He said world leaders often eagerly engage with Modi on social media because connecting with him significantly boosts their own follower base, engagements, views and reposts. This was seen recently in Italy as well as Austria, the official added.

Prime Minister Modi is also an influential presence on YouTube and Instagram with nearly 25 million subscribers and more than 91 million followers respectively.