Social media platform Twitter will remove accounts that have been inactive for several years, CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet on Monday, saying that the action is "important to free up abandoned handles."
Twitter's billionaire owner in a separate tweet said
inactive accounts will be archived, Musk did not add any details on when the
process will begin.
It was not immediately known if or how Twitter users will be
able to access archived accounts.
Musk also said users on the micro-blogging platform could
see a drop in follower count, as several inactive accounts might get removed.
According to Twitter's policy, users should log in to their
account at least once every 30 days to avoid permanent removal due to prolonged
inactivity.
Earlier this month, Musk "threatened" to reassign
National Public Radio's Twitter account to another company, after the public
broadcaster stopped posting content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest
against a Twitter label that implied government involvement in its editorial
content.
Twitter last month removed the legacy verified blue tick
from the profile of thousands of people, including celebrities, journalists and
prominent politicians.
Musk has made account verification a part of Twitter's Blue
subscription, a move he said would tackle the issue of bot accounts on the
social media platform. © Reuters