Elon Musk recently announced a plan to purge old, inactive Twitter accounts to free up sought-after usernames. While the move could benefit the platform by encouraging lapsed users to return, the decision has been met with backlash and concern, particularly over the potential loss of accounts belonging to deceased users.
In a tweet on Monday, Musk stated, “We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop.” This announcement has led to many expressing their concerns, including arguing that social media sites serve as “effectively digital graveyards.” Currently, Twitter does not have a dedicated memorial page section like Facebook. As a result, these accounts have been allowed to exist in their current state.
Notably, Twitter proposed a similar plan in 2019 but ultimately decided to leave the accounts of deceased users untouched due to the same concerns raised today. The move also raises concerns about a potential increase in impersonation instances, particularly for famous but currently inactive accounts. This could lead to another “blue tick” situation on the platform, where verification becomes crucial in distinguishing genuine accounts from impersonators.
Musk has a history of backtracking on dramatic changes so there is a possibility that the concerns of users who asked Musk to keep some Twitter accounts active, will be taken into consideration. However, the official Twitter account and Twitter Support have not yet provided any updates or clarification regarding the potential purge or the process for acquiring the freed-up usernames.
Musk has not yet clarified what constitutes an “active” account or the provisions needed to maintain an account’s status. His tweets imply that logging in at least once every 30 days may be enough to qualify as “active,” but accounts not actively tweeting could still face removal.
In response to concerns about content deletion from inactive accounts, Musk stated that the accounts would be archived. This statement came in response to a tweet by video game developer John Carmack, who expressed worries about wholesale content deletion during the purge.
Currently, Twitter’s inactive account policy stipulates that users should log in at least once every 30 days to avoid being “permanently removed.” Inactivity is defined based on whether a person logs into their account. Under this long-standing policy, inactive accounts are generally allowed to retain their usernames and their handles are not released to active users.
