Twitter CEO Elon Musk has disclosed plans to delete 1.5 billion dormant accounts on the platform, to free up the name space.
He disclosed that the deletion of these accounts is obvious because they haven’t tweeted or logged in since the account was created.
He tweeted, “Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts. These are obvious account deletions, with no tweets and log-in for years”.
Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
This move is coming after a Twitter user earlier this month had urged Musk to purge accounts that haven’t been active in the last 15 years which he accepted to implement.
Another user @erichjrusch disclosed that there are so many inactives sitting on excellent Twitter handles, he suggested that If they have been inactive for more than a year, they should be given 30 days to log in or risk their account being deleted.
Musk replied definitely, which implies that he might be considering implementing the idea.
While some users have embraced Musk’s plan to delete inactive accounts, some other users do not buy the idea as they feel that some inactive accounts belong to those who have died, and should be preserved for their loved ones.
A user @Northmantrader wrote, “Hate to say it, but all our accounts will become inactive after we die. Should all our history be expunged? So much of our history is now happening on social media. Should it not be preserved for future historians & even loved ones?”
Another user @ShepDanellos wrote, “Please don’t auto-delete inactive accounts. Rather, put them in some kind of status that frees up the handle but preserves their tweets. This is important for archival reasons, especially for those who are no longer with us.”
Meanwhile, on the platform’s inactive account policy, it stated that for users to keep their account active, they must ensure to log in at least every 6 months, noting that accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity.
In 2022, Twitter reported around 450 million monthly active users, with 237.8 million monetizable daily active users as of the second quarter (Q2) of 2022.
Twitter usage reportedly rose the week Musk took over as the CEO of the company, which in the first weekend of November, Twitter saw its most daily active users ever.
Ever since Musk’s takeover of Twitter on October 2022, he has been carrying out a serious revamp on the platform. From massive layoffs, permission of free speech, Twitter blue subscription fee, the abolition of remote work, Content moderation and account, etc.
His position as the CEO of the social media company has kept most users on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next changes he has in store.
