Twitter has been the epitome of uncertainty – if there ever was one – ever since Elon Musk took over. After goinng through the wild ride that was the removal process of legacy blue check marks (which went into effect awhile after the publication of our report), Musk is now saying that the bird app will be getting rid of old and inactive accounts.
As per his own tweet on the platform, Musk says that Twitter will be “purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years”, noting the possibility of a follower count drop. That being said, Musk did backpedal a little, going from purging to archiving said inactive accounts, in a response to id Software co-founder John Carmack stating that a complete purge will be problematic.
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
Further down in the tweet thread, there are implications of the handles used by these accounts being freed up for others to use instead. Which sounds like another problem waiting to happen, and something that Carmack also pointed out.
I did not appreciate how excited many people are about freeing up old usernames. That doesn’t change the point about preserving the old tweets — maybe rename the old account to include the year of creation.
However, tossing old names back into the free pool just starts another…
— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) May 8, 2023
While this move may sound ill-advised to its detractors, it is something that has been on the table for quite awhile. A report by The New York Times from back in January noted that the people behind the bird app has been considering making money by auctioning Twitter handles. The report claims that it is something that has been discussed since the month before, and this potential purging of inactive accounts may be one of the ways it is manifesting. Musk also doubled down on the importance of freeing up abandoned handles in this latest Twitter thread.
But it is important to free up abandoned handles
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023
Overall, it is still uncertain what this will actually mean for the platform. Musk did not provide specifics, including what “several years” actually means. Though if this does come to pass, maybe we will be seeing handle auctions next.
(Source: Elon Musk, John Carmack, NY Times)
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