Twitter users SLAM Elon Musk’s plan to ‘purge’ inactive accounts

Elon Musk faced a social media backlash amid plans to “clean up” inactive Twitter accounts.

Grieving users fear their latest conversations with loved ones will soon disappear after the tech boss announced a cull of accounts yesterday.

Musk said the takedown is aimed at people who “have not been active at all for several years” and warned users that follower numbers could plummet.

But the news has caused a lot of heartache for many people who keep messages as a way to remember the dead.

“Announcing that Twitter is going to ‘clean up’ inactive accounts like others, I’m thinking of those accounts of dead friends that will disappear,” one user wrote.

“When I think about my last interaction with a friend/comrade who passed away from cancer last year, it will disappear.”

Another added, ‘My childhood best friends’ account is already gone. I don’t know if the account was cleaned up a while ago or if it was done today, but when I went to look for him, his account was just gone. I’m devastated – I feel like I’m losing him all over again.”

Dozens of others joined in the conversation, recalling the ways they’d also latched on to latest posts and profiles on various social media platforms.

“LinkedIn: My brother and also my friend who passed away are still here,” one person said.

“My last messages to them there just happen to be four days apart. I saw the messages the other day and it was devastating.

Brother still has the Open to Work banner. Devastating.’

Another wrote, “My friend is somehow still on MySpace, even though they’ve removed most of his pictures and stuff.”

Twitter’s policy requires an account to be used at least once a month to avoid permanent deletion for inactivity.

Musk has since clarified that inactive accounts will be “archived” and not completely deleted, but it’s currently unclear if users will be allowed access.

This uncertainty seems to have encouraged even more people to hop on Twitter and share their grief.

One user said, ‘My dad’s account will probably be deactivated too, I’d love to look back at it. It’s so sad to see it go.”

Another chimed in, “I wish I could log into my friend’s account to save it.”

Unlike Twitter, platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a way to turn inactive accounts into “memorial accounts” when a loved one passes away.

No one can log into an account with a memorial status or share posts on Instagram where the word “Remembering” appears next to the profile name.

On Facebook, friends can share memories on a memorialized account’s timeline, depending on their privacy settings.

If users do not want their accounts remembered after death, they can indicate their preferences in Facebook’s profile settings.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s guideline reads: “In the event of the death of a Twitter user, we may work with a person authorized to act on behalf of the estate, or with a verified immediate family member of the deceased to establish an account.” have it deactivated.

“In the event that a Twitter user is incapacitated, for medical or other reasons, we may work with a person authorized to act on the user’s behalf to have an account deactivated.”

Despite this, Twitter users can export an archive of tweets if they have access to the other person’s account.

The export options can be accessed by going to Account Settings and tapping “more” in the navigation bar.

The Your Account option can then be selected from the menu before clicking Download to archive data.

Taking screenshots of saved messages is another option for grieving users in addition to using the All My Tweets website.

This has the ability to create a downloadable file containing the last 3,200 tweets shared from an account. The file can be saved, printed and kept, provided the account is not private. MailOnline has reached out to Twitter for comment.