Twitter takes aim at paid follower service

Microblogging site Twitter is looking to crack down on services which sell follower accounts to users.

Australian-based company uSocial said that Twitter is attempting to stop the company from offering its paid follower service. The company allows Twitter users to purchase packages which bring hundreds of accounts to the client as Twitter followers.

The company claims that it is offering a marketing device which can increase the visibility of a client account. Now, uSocial said that Twitter is trying to shut it down with the claim that the practice is tantamount to spamming.

"The definition of spam is using electronic messaging to send unsolicited communication and as we don't use Twitter for this, the claims are false," said uSocial chief executive Leon Hill.

2009 has been a banner year for Twitter in which the company has seen both its user base and press coverage surge. With that growth, however, has come a myriad of new issues for the company.

Over the course of the year Twitter has had to deal with issues ranging from denial of service attacks and hacking attempts to fake account issues and doubts over the company's business model.