Given the current state of Elon Musk's X project, this seems like an odd move, though, at the same time, seemingly odd moves are now pretty commonplace for X.

As Axios reports, X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is deprecating its account promotion ads, which allow brands to highlight their account in user feeds to gain more followers.
Promoted accounts, also known as "Follower Objective," have long been a key mechanism to maximize brand awareness. Apparently, the idea no longer cuts it under X's new strategy that will be more reliant on video and other interactive ad formats.

According to Axios:

Promoted accounts are one of the oldest ad formats offered on the platform. The ads appear as text-based posts within the X timeline and include a "Follow" button for the account promoting them. But follower ads, while easy to sell, are static. They don't leverage any of the multi-media tools, like video, that X is trying to lean into."

The X team has been letting clients know about the change, which has already taken place in some areas, though it is not clear when it will be completely removed as an ad option. Additionally, the new X approach towards shifting extremely fast is also causing a more fragmented rollout of each change, which has often seen some parts of the app not match with others, with the X name change itself being the key example in this respect.

That's the price of change in a hurry, though, and difficult to predict exactly when any element will be complete, but the X team has assured us that follower campaigns will be phased out altogether shortly as part of a broader effort toward prioritizing more adaptive content formats.

X has also informed ad partners they can use other ad units for pretty much the same thing-using engagement and reach objective promotions-but minus the direct focus on following.

It's impossible to know what impact the removal will have, though Axios has also reported Follower Campaigns currently generate around $100 million annually for the app. That's only a fraction of the $4.4 billion X made in 2022, primarily through ad spend, though with X also seeing a 50% decline in ad revenue since Elon's takeover at the app, any loss is significant in its broader push to return to profitability.
But Elon has a vision for what he wants, and new CEO Linda Yaccarino is also now looking to stamp her footprint on the business. Within that, it seems that some formats will be re-assessed with an eye on the next level for the app.

So now you’ll have to rely on posting good stuff, and aligning with the latest algorithm shifts to maximize X reach, and gain more followers organically.

Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but it will have an impact on various strategies.