Twitter to delete 1.5 billion accounts, announces Elon Musk
"These are obvious account deletions with no tweets and no log in for years," writes Elon Musk on Twitter
December 09, 2022
Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Friday made an announcement of removing about 1.5 billion ghost accounts from the microblogging website due to their inactivity.
Taking to Twitter, the billionaire said: "Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts."
However, the Tesla and SpaceX owner clarified that only those accounts will be deleted that have "no tweets and no log in for years".
"These are obvious account deletions with no tweets & no log in for years," wrote Musk on Twitter.
Blue tick
Musk, who took ownership of Twitter in October, has announced making several changes to the website — some of which are heavily criticised by users.
A day earlier, Twitter planned to change the pricing of its Twitter Blue subscription product to $11, from $7.99, if paid for through its iPhone app and to $7 if paid for on the website, as per Reuters, citing Information's report.
The move was likely a pushback against Apple's 30% cut on any payments made by users via apps on the iOS operating system, the report said.
The lower pricing on the website was also likely to drive more users to that platform as opposed to signing up on their iPhones, the report said. It did not mention whether pricing would change for the Android platform as well.
Musk is planning to roll out the micro-blogging site's verified service with different coloured checks for individuals, companies and governments after a botched initial launch led to a surge in users impersonating celebrities and brands on the platform.
Musk, in a series of tweets last week listed various grievances with Apple, including the 30% fee the iPhone maker charges software developers for in-app purchases.
He also posted a meme suggesting he was willing to "go to war" with Apple rather than paying the commission.
Musk later met Apple chief executive Tim Cook at the company's headquarters and later tweeted that the misunderstanding about Twitter being removed from Apple's app store was resolved.
