Twitter walks back its plan to cull inactive accounts

Some correspondents had recently picked up the story that Twitter had plans to delete the myriad inactive accounts that currently float around its platform. This strategy, according to BBC reporter Dave Lee, would have removed those usernames whose owners had not logged in for over 6 months.

It would also have affected those accounts that had been suspended. The move led to speculation that Twitter intended to recoup potentially valuable usernames for those who had wished to select them, but found them taken. However, the new policy, which would have taken effect on December 11, 2019, has been put on hold.

It seems the social media giant has come up against objections from people who have realized its "clean-up project" would also have removed accounts originally belonging to users who have passed on. However, Twitter has also now stated that, once a solution that preserves the tweets in question has been developed, the inactive-account reclamation is back on.