There are a ton of unused and abandoned accounts on Twitter, and Elon Musk wants to do something about it. The social media platform’s CEO announced that Twitter is going to be purging and archiving inactive accounts in order to free up abandoned handles.
As with most recent changes to Twitter, this one ties back to a direct interaction between Elon Musk and the outside world. Not too long ago, the billionaire threatened to reassign NPR’s social media handle due to inactivity on the account. NPR left Twitter because it was labeled “state-affiliated media.” The entity only left Twitter about a month ago, and Elon Musk is already threatening to reassign it due to inactivity.
Twitter will be purging inactive accounts
While Elon Musk is butting heads with NPR, the platform is doing much the same with other accounts. Elon Musk posted in a tweet (via Engadget )that the platform is “purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years,”.
He wasn’t clear on the specifics. He said several years, but we don’t know exactly what that’s supposed to mean. Does it mean two years, three years, etc.? We’re also unclear as to whether the company will notify potential accounts before they’re purged. Hopefully, the company will elucidate a bit.
It’s worth noting that these accounts won’t be deleted per se. In fact, they’re going to be archived. This means that if your account is wrongfully purged, there may be a way for you to retrieve it.
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
At this point, we don’t know the specifics of that. Once the company starts purging accounts, we should hopefully have more information.
In the Tweet, Elon didn’t know that you will probably see your follower account drop. That’s unfortunate, but not unforeseen. People tend to leave Twitter and keep their accounts up. It’s easy to forget about an account and have it stay dormant for years at a Time.
While Twitter purging inactive accounts could be bad for people who want to keep them, it might be a relief for people who have several accounts that they have no use for.