Twitter Inc’s CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet on Monday that the social media platform will remove accounts that have been inactive for several years, saying that the action is “important to free up abandoned handles.”
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 a separate tweet, Twitter’s billionaire owner said inactive accounts would be archived. Musk did not specify when the process would begin.
It is unclear whether or not Twitter users will be able to access archived accounts.
Musk also stated that the number of followers on the microblogging platform may decrease due to the removal of inactive accounts.
According to Twitter’s policy, users must log in at least once every 30 days to avoid permanent removal due to inactivity.
Musk “threatened” to reassign National Public Radio’s Twitter account to another company earlier this month, after the public broadcaster stopped posting content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest of a Twitter label that implied government involvement in its editorial content.
Twitter removed the legacy verified blue tick from thousands of people’s profiles last month, including celebrities, journalists, and prominent politicians.
Musk has included account verification in Twitter’s Blue subscription, which he claims will address the issue of bot accounts on the social media platform.
