Twitter has announced that it will soon take down inactive accounts in a move that could vastly change the numbers on the social media network.
CEO Elon Musk shared the news on Monday ahead of the new update.
THE PURGE: Will you be affected? Elon Musk breaks down everything you should know about the move. https://t.co/QvCXHKgFj1
— Katherine Trotter🇺🇸 (@KatATrotter) May 9, 2023
"Twitter warned on a Help Center page about its "inactive account policy" that accounts "may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity." The company measures the use of log-ins and recommends users to do so at least once a month, the page said," Fox Business reported.
"Due to the inactivity-related purge, people' will probably see follower count drop,' according to Musk. His tweet announced the move has since been racking up engagement, including more than 21,000 retweets and 187,000 likes," it added.
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
"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," the New York Post reported.
"Twitter last month removed the legacy verified blue tick from the profile of thousands of people, including celebrities, journalists and prominent politicians," it added.
The social media company now allows verification as part of its paid service called Twitter Blue. Musk believes the change will address both the inactive accounts and issues of unfairness in verifying accounts in the past.
The updates are part of massive changes at Twitter since Musk took over leadership last year.
After taking the company private, Musk has laid off approximately 80% of its previous workforce and increased transparency about Twitter's past actions.
The inactive account removal will add to the enhancements but may lead to further controversy as users with lots of followers may notice a major drop in numbers.
