Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will begin removing accounts that have been inactive for several years. Musk explained that this is “important to free up abandoned handles.” However, he did not provide any details on when the process will begin.
Twitter’s policy states that users should log in to their account at least once every 30 days to avoid permanent removal due to prolonged inactivity. It is unclear at this time if or how Twitter users will be able to access archived accounts.
This announcement comes after Twitter removed the legacy verified blue tick from thousands of profiles last month, including those of celebrities, journalists, and prominent politicians. The move was part of Twitter’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the blue tick only appears on accounts that meet the platform’s verification criteria.
Musk has also made account verification a part of Twitter’s Blue subscription, which he believes will help tackle the issue of bot accounts on the social media platform.
In a separate tweet, Twitter’s billionaire owner Jack Dorsey said that inactive accounts will be archived. It is unclear at this time what this process will entail.
Earlier this month, Musk “threatened” to reassign National Public Radio’s Twitter account to another company after the public broadcaster stopped posting content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a Twitter label that implied government involvement in its editorial content.
In addition to removing inactive accounts, Musk also stated that Twitter users could see a drop in follower count, as several inactive accounts may be removed from the platform. This move is expected to impact a significant number of accounts, as Twitter currently has over 330 million monthly active users.