Elon Musk Announces Removal of Inactive Twitter Accounts

Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet the company’s plan to remove accounts that have had no activity for several years. Due to the move, Musk then warned users that they might experience a drop in followers.

We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023

In reply to his original tweet, the CEO also explained the deletion of old accounts as “important to free up abandoned handles.”  

Several users have voiced their thoughts in Musk’s thread, with one asking the CEO to strongly reconsider the move.  

I may be reading this incorrectly, but if you are actually deleting inactive accounts and all their historic tweets, I would STRONGLY urge you to reconsider.

Letting people know how many “active” followers they have is good information, but deleting the output of inactive…

— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) May 8, 2023

The Twitter boss then replied to the user that the accounts will instead be “archived.”  

While it is not yet clear when Twitter will start archiving old accounts, or how users will be able to access them, the move has already been met with split opinions.

Some users have expressed support for the move as more Twitter handles from previous accounts can be used. “All the good usernames will be up for grabs finally,” one user wrote.  

Meanwhile, other Tweeters are concerned that the inactive accounts of their deceased friends or relatives will no longer be accessible.  

so twitter "purging inactive accounts" is definitely going to delete a bunch of accounts by mistake and also delete the accounts of a bunch of dead people who will then immediately be impersonated by blue check scams, right

— cohost.org/bruno (@NotBrunoAgain) May 8, 2023

The purge comes after several changes Musk has made to the app in the past couple of weeks.  

Last week, the Twitter boss announced a pay-per-article feature for media publications on the social media app, allowing them to charge their readers “with one click.”  

The new Twitter service is designed to give users who don’t want full subscriptions an alternative option.  

Pay-per-article for Twitter is expected to roll out this May.  

Are you in support of archiving old Twitter accounts? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and LinkedIn!