After allowing former US President Donald Trump back on Twitter, the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk is granting “a general amnesty” to accounts that had been suspended. These accounts will be returning next week, the world’s richest man has posted, following a poll taken earlier this week; users could answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to whether the platform should restore affected accounts. Musk’s poll attracted 3.2 million responses and 72.4 per cent voted in favour of “amnesty”. Trump was banned after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and he has said he doesn’t intend to return to the platform.
This, of course, is making many users iffy about staying on the platform. They are not enjoying the steps Musk is taking in the name of “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” or “the voice of the people is the voice of god”. If you are one of them and want to log out of Twitter, here’s what you need to do.
Before you deactivate, realise that there are no exact alternatives. We have heard of Hive and Mastodon but they are more like options rather than alternatives. But if you are fine with dedicating all your time to Facebook or Instagram, then go ahead and deactivate.
Back up your tweets
If you are one of the those who want to leave but after seeing how things unfold over the next couple of months, start by backing up all your tweets which can be accessed by visiting Settings> Your Account> Download an Archive of Your Data. The file will arrive in “zip” format.
Delete tweets
For those who want to play the wait-and-watch game and have already taken a back up of tweets, you can delete a few past tweets that you feel are sensitive. There’s no way to bulk-delete tweets but using a third-party tool, such as Tweetdelete.net, will make things easier. The tool will also allow you to delete your old likes. Once deleted, tweets will “no longer be publicly available” but one’s not sure how long these can stay on Twitter’s servers before disappearing permanently.
Get rid of the account
Once you are sure you don’t want to be on Twitter, delete your account. Remember, your data will remain for at least 30 days (in case you want to reactivate the account). To delete your account, visit Settings> Your Account> Deactivate Your Account. Select 30 days for the Reactivation Period and click Deactivate.