As expected, people were not at all pleased when Twitter announced that they will be deleting inactive accounts by December 11. A major concern was about the accounts of loved ones who passed away already and will now be removed since they obviously have not been active for the past 6 months. So the social media company has now backtracked and temporarily paused the “purge” while they try to figure out how to memorialize accounts of those who have moved on.
Twitter also took the chance to clarify first why they were doing this in the first place. While they did have an inactive account policy ever since they have not been able to enforce it strictly. But because of the local privacy regulations in the EU, they have decided to start enforcing it for compliance. Their initial announcement was only supposed to impact accounts of those who are in the EU but that was not explicitly stated.
The strongest feedback was from those who had loved ones who passed away. The deceased’s account would probably be part of those that they will be deleting and so the entire account and social media legacy will be lost. Twitter admits that they are currently not able to memorialize accounts. And so they are temporarily pausing the removal of inactive accounts until they are able to figure this out.
Probably after they are able to find a way to memorialize accounts, they will go back to enforcing their inactive accounts policy. For now, it will still be for those living in EU countries but they may broaden this in the future so they will be able to comply with other regulations in other regions and countries.
We’ve heard your feedback about our effort to delete inactive accounts and want to respond and clarify. Here’s what’s happening: — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 27, 2019
For now, though, the purging operations which will supposedly start on December 11, will now be discontinued until further announcement. That’s why sometimes it’s really important you voice out your displeasure with a move that a brand is doing. Fortunately, this time, Twitter listened.
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