Twitter set to delete inactive accounts next month

Twitter announced this week it will begin removing inactive accounts in December, possibly affecting millions of users.

The social media giant said users who haven’t signed in for six months have received emails to claim their account by Dec. 11 before it is subject to deletion.

While the specific number of accounts at risk wasn’t shared, it’s expected to be in the millions.

“As part of our commitment to serve the public conversation, we’re working to clean up inactive accounts to present more accurate, credible information people can trust across Twitter,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Verge via email. “Part of this effort is encouraging people to actively log-in and use Twitter when they register an account, as stated in our inactive accounts policy.

“We have begun proactive outreach to many accounts who have not logged into Twitter in over six months to inform them that their accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity,” the spokesperson said.

The cleanse will also affect the accounts of users who died unless a family member can sign in to the handle. Twitter currently has no account memorialization feature for deceased users but told The Verge “the team is thinking about ways to do this.”

While the deadline is Dec. 11, accounts will be deleted gradually over the course of a few months, starting with ones outside the U.S. The deleted usernames will steadily become available again, Twitter said.