why you should not completely delete your X/Twitter account

In recent days, X/Twitter has experienced a real hemorrhage. After the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and the appointment of Elon Musk as Trump's Minister of Government Efficiency, many X/Twitter users are leaving the platform. Many of them are leaving for Bluesky, the “new” social network of Jack Dorsey, former boss of Twitter. However, should you draw a line under the past and delete your account on Elon Musk's social network? The answer is no.

Your Twitter handle can be reused

Before you can permanently delete your Twitter/X account, the platform will first deactivate it. This is the first stage, which lasts around thirty days, and during which you can always, if you change your mind, log in to your account, in order to reactivate it.

After these thirty days, your account will be forever deleted and your username “will no longer be associated with it”, indicates X / Twitter on its support pages. There is, so to speak, no return possible. And what you need to know is that apart from the fact that your X / Twitter account disappears, and that your username / nickname is deleted at the same time, it is actually put back on the market . Any new user of the platform can, if you have deleted your account, re-register using your username. X / Twitter also indicates this very clearly on its support page dedicated to account deletion:

« Once your account is deleted when the 30-day deactivation window is over, your username will be available for creating other Twitter accounts. »

Therefore, you undoubtedly see the risks that this can entail. In the same way that it is not recommended to delete an email account, it is better to refrain from deleting your Twitter account. Because anyone can, once your account has been destroyed, go behind you to create a new account using your username, and pretend to be you, without your knowledge.

Without activity, your account may also be deleted

That being said, nothing prevents you from deleting all the messages associated with your account if you do not want to leave any memories on Elon Musk's platform. However, keep in mind that from time to time you will need to come and connect to X / Twitter, just to show your presence.

Because the platform also has the habit of cleaning up inactive accounts. “ To keep your account active, make sure to log in at least every 30 days. Accounts may be permanently deleted due to prolonged inactivity. » we can read in the Social Network's Support Center. If X / Twitter does not give any details as to the duration of inactivity necessary to see your account deleted, it is undoubtedly wiser to log in at least once a month, just to “protect” your username.

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