The purge of old and inactive Twitter accounts could free up many long-coveted usernames.
Musk says Twitter will be removing accounts that have had “no activity for several years.”
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For years Twitter has promised to bring long-coveted usernames back into rotation but the company had yet to do any real effort to do so. Twitter already had an account policy that encourages users to log in at least once every 30 days to keep they accounts from being permanently removed, and their usernames released. That policy was indeed never truly enforced.
There is no confirmed information as to how many Twitter accounts are actually categorized as inactive. But a tweet from Elon Mush back in December 2022 indicated over 1.5 billion usernames could soon be freed:
Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
Today, Musk announced on Twitter that the company has started purging accounts, “that have had no activity at all for several years” without detailing if “activity” meant just logging in or actively participating on the platform:
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
Musk also warned that, as a result, some accounts could see follower counts drop.
In a follow-up tweet, Musk also clarified that “yes,” a lot of usernames were about to become available. He didn’t, however, clarify how users would be able to acquire these usernames beyond the usual method of trying to create a new account with a particular name.
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023
In the past, TechCrunch had reported that Twitter had considered selling desired usernames through online auctions to generate additional revenue. It’s not clear if that plan still remains in play or how it will work, if so.