Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Remove Inactive Accounts
On Monday, Elon Musk announced that Twitter would be removing accounts that had been inactive for many years as his latest constructive change to the operations of the social-media platform.
“We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop,” Musk tweeted Monday.
The CEO on Sunday posted a poll, asking Twitter users: “We’re trying hard to make your feed as compelling as possible (maximize unregretted user minutes). How is it now vs 6 months ago?”
Since Musk acquired the company last fall, he has implemented a number of modifications and updates that he has touted as improvements, although some dissenters have not perceived them as such. For example, Musk reworked the user verification process, making “verification” a virtual badge that users could purchase for $8 a month. However, critics noted that the new “Twitter Blue” program still did not actually authenticate identities.
Musk has also recently been entangled in feuds with various actors, such as independent journalist Matt Taibbi, whom he initially enlisted to analyze and report on Twitter’s internal documents revealing the tech firm’s censorship efforts before he took the helm.
Taibbi shared last month that he would be leaving Twitter over claims that the social-media company was stifling the dissemination of content from Substack, where he publishes much of his written work. Musk denied that Substack links were being blocked.
“Substack was trying to download a massive portion of the Twitter database to bootstrap their Twitter clone, so their IP address is obviously untrusted,” Musk wrote. “Turns out Matt is/was an employee of Substack.”
Some Twitter users disputed Musk’s claims, adding context that interactions (likes, retweets, and replies) with tweets containing Substack links were restricted, limiting engagement with them and therefore their exposure. Taibbi then suggested he would be leaving the platform.
“Of all things: I learned earlier today that Substack links were being blocked on this platform. When I asked why, I was told it’s a dispute over the new Substack Notes platform,” Taibbi tweeted. “Since sharing links to my articles is a primary reason I come to this platform, I was alarmed and asked what was going on. I was given the option of posting articles on Twitter instead. I’m obviously staying at Substack, and will be moving to Substack Notes next week.”