Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Twitter Said It Will Not Delete The Accounts Of Dead People

Twitter Said It Will Not Delete The Accounts Of Dead People

Twitter made a swift change to its plans to purge inactive accounts after people pointed out it this meant deleting the accounts of dead loved ones.

Yesterday, Twitter announced that it would be clearing out old usernames. People who haven’t logged in in six months will receive an email warning them that if they don’t log in, they might lose their username and account completely. This was great news for anyone who is hoping to nab a better username. But the news came with a huge downside: the potential deletion of accounts of dead people.

Now Twitter is walking it back, saying it will not delete any accounts until it has figured out a way to memorialize accounts for people who have died.


The outcry was immediate after Twitter’s announcement. Deleting the tweets of dead people feels quite simply, cruel to the people they’ve left behind. Tweets are the musings, the thoughts, the voice of a real person. For a moment, let’s forget about the terrible side of Twitter -hate speech, trolls, etc.... We’re talking here about people who used Twitter in the best possible way: a platform for expression and conversation, to share ideas, crack jokes, slide into DMs, and even form friendships. I understand this; there are people I cared about who have died and I’d feel devastated if their Twitter accounts were deleted. The tweets of people who have died matter a lot to their loved ones.


Last night, Jason Scott of Archive Team, which works to preserve parts of the internet, announced that the group would be taking requests for user accounts to memorialize. People could submit the name of a Twitter account of a dead person that they wanted to be archived. Scott told BuzzFeed News the Archive Team received about 1,500 names since last night.

Scott is frustrated by Twitter’s seemingly callous move. “This is a case where we let Twitter become the primary platform for a massive variety of public discourse and record and journalism,” he told BuzzFeed News. “And now we’re rediscovering that they had no idea this was the case … Nobody at Twitter thought about this until yesterday.”

He’s also skeptical that Twitter will truly change its course. “They’ll back away from it with some intent of doing it later,” he said.

In the meantime, Scott and the Archive Team will continue saving accounts -something they’ve already been doing for years. They’ll use the list of submitted names to expedite those in case Twitter does delete them later on. “This is not my first rodeo. These are not my first clowns,” Scott said.

Twitter told the Verge yesterday that it currently doesn't have an option for the memorialization of an account, the way Facebook does, but are thinking about solutions for this issue.

From a technical standpoint, this should be easy to verify. Twitter definitely can tell the difference between an account that is truly just a garbage abandoned egg account and the active account of a person who used it until their death (or chose to abandon for another reason, like a company that went out of business). There are easy metrics for this -for example, if the user only logged in the day the account was created, and never followed anyone or added an avatar.

A spokesperson for Twitter told BuzzFeed News, however, that the site planned to purge accounts that hadn't logged in over six months or accepted the TOS, with no special determination beyond that.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×