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Coverage dated May 7, 2023 to May 8, 2023

Musk says inactive Twitter accounts getting purged

Headline from FOX 29 Philadelphia, from the development of May 8, 2023

Newest development May 9, 2023 · 3 reportsElon Musk says Twitter is purging inactive accounts to 'free up abandoned handles'

Elon Musk, who has helmed Twitter since his takeover of the social media company in late October, said the purge will affect accounts "that have had no activity at all for several years." He announced the move Monday.

FOX 29 Philadelphia's own description from its feed. We collect headlines and these descriptions, not full articles; read the original reporting below.

Earlier updates in this story

Developments in this update

2 dated developments, oldest first, newest marked. Each is named by one outlet's own headline; open its reports to see every outlet that covered it.

  1. Names this update

    Musk says inactive Twitter accounts getting purged

    Headline from FOX 29 Philadelphia ·

  2. Newest

    Elon Musk says Twitter is purging inactive accounts to 'free up abandoned handles'

    Headline from Insider ·

Read the reports

Reports & sources

10 articles, oldest first.

  1. New York Post

    Elon Musk says Twitter to remove inactive accounts (opens New York Post)

    Published

    New York Post's feed description

    Musk added that users on the micro-blogging platform could see a drop in follower count.

  2. Gizmodo

    Musk Says Twitter Will Purge Inactive Accounts (opens Gizmodo)

    Published

    Gizmodo's feed description

    Elon Musk is "purging" Twitter of accounts that have been inactive for "several years" as the number of active users drops.

  3. Forbes

    Elon Musk Plans To Purge Old Twitter Accounts But What About Users Who’ve Died? (opens Forbes)

    Published

    Forbes's feed description

    Elon Musk announced a plan on Monday to purge all old Twitter accounts that haven’t seen any activity in years. The goal is to free up old usernames but many people on the social media platform expressed concern. What happens to the accounts of people who’ve died?

  4. Quartz

    Elon Musk’s plan to purge inactive Twitter accounts risks disrespecting the dead (opens Quartz)

    Published

    Quartz's feed description

    Social media companies have long grappled with death. Now it's Musk's turn

  5. CNET

    Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Purge Inactive Accounts, Which Could Give You the Handle You've Always Wanted (opens CNET)

    Published

    CNET's feed description

    This could open up more than a billion accounts, potentially giving access to much-desired handles.

  6. FOX 29 Philadelphia

    Musk says inactive Twitter accounts getting purged (opens FOX 29 Philadelphia)

    Published

    FOX 29 Philadelphia's feed description

    Elon Musk, who has helmed Twitter since his takeover of the social media company in late October, said the purge will affect accounts "that have had no activity at all for several years." He announced the move Monday.

  7. Insider

    Elon Musk says Twitter is purging inactive accounts to 'free up abandoned handles' (opens Insider)

    Published

    Insider's feed description

    In response to concerns that content from old Twitter accounts would be deleted, Musk said on Monday that these accounts "will be archived."

  8. Engadget

    Twitter is going to purge and archive inactive accounts (opens Engadget)

    Published

    Engadget's feed description

    "[Y]ou will probably see follower count drop," Twitter owner Elon Musk has warned the website's users, because the company is purging accounts that has "had no activity at all" for several years..

  9. Fortune

    Elon Musk announces purge of unused Twitter accounts—but there’s a reason Twitter hasn’t already done this (opens Fortune)

    Published

    Fortune's feed description

    Twitter still lacks a way to memorialize dead people’s accounts.

Identical headlines usually mean shared wire copy. They are counted as separate articles but are not independent confirmation.