Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, renamed it X, fired much of its staff, and made different massive adjustments, a gentle stream of celebrities, public figures, organizations, and atypical individuals have stop the social media platform.
Some blame Musk for turning a spot that was enjoyable into one which’s chaotic and poisonous, pointing to strikes like permitting polarizing figures comparable to Donald Trump back in. Others are turned off by Musk’s juvenile humor or by how he’s more and more barging into their feeds together with his posts, typically to amplify far-right tropes.
They’re defecting to rival websites together with BlueSky, Mastodon, Meta’s Threads, and Reddit. Some even are—gasp!—quitting social media altogether.
So in the event you’ve determined it’s time to exit X, right here’s what it’s essential to do:
Step one
Start by deactivating your account, which begins a 30-day countdown till your account is deleted completely. Go to settings and privateness, then to the Account tab and click on Deactivate your Account, enter your password, and make sure you need to proceed.
When you go forward, your profile and username can be hidden from public view. When you change your thoughts, you may cease the method by logging in at any level in the course of the 30-day interval.
When you’ve signed up for a subscription, like a premium account, cancel that in the event you don’t need to make one other cost. Subscriptions are solely mechanically canceled when the account is deleted.
Third events
In case your account in some way will get reactivated though you didn’t need to, X says on its assist pages that it is likely to be since you’ve granted entry to third-party apps. These are constructed by different software program builders and might do issues like learn and make posts or entry direct messages in your behalf.
To see which third-party apps you’ve given entry to, head to the settings menu, then Safety and Account Entry. Click on Apps and Classes, after which Linked Apps. You possibly can revoke entry to particular person apps by tapping or clicking on every one.
When you suspect {that a} rogue app nonetheless has entry to your account, strive altering your password for X.
Don’t neglect your knowledge
Earlier than you allow for good, you may obtain an archive of all of your knowledge out of your time on Twitter and X. It could possibly be helpful if you wish to lookup a memorable publish you wrote, refer again to direct messages you traded with different customers, or discover the accounts that you just adopted or had been following you.
Within the settings menu, you’ll have to enter your password to request the info, which can are available a zipper file. Once I requested my archive, which amounted to 211 megabytes of information, it was accessible to obtain about 24 hours later.
What occurs to that knowledge when you’re gone for good? X says on its privacy page that it retains customers’ profile info and content material “throughout your account.” It holds on to different “personally identifiable knowledge” for as much as 18 months, with out being extra particular on what that knowledge is.
Say your farewells
It has turn out to be a ritual for X customers to announce they’re departing the platform. Politicians and celebrities have used their closing publish to take a parting shot at Musk, warn that the positioning is turning into too poisonous, or let their followers know in regards to the different social media venues they’re utilizing. Then, their statements often disappear as a result of their account is deleted.
Customers who aren’t well-known have drafted heartfelt farewell letters, on X, their blogs, or platforms like LinkedIn, explaining their causes for leaving. It’s not crucial, although it would assist you obtain closure.
Cover as a substitute of stop
Are you certain you need to go away, completely? When you’re not able to decide to full deletion, you may as a substitute lock down your account.
Go to the privateness part in your settings, then click on on Your posts after which tick the packing containers to guard your posts and movies.
Defending your posts implies that solely individuals who comply with you already will be capable of see them. Another customers will see a padlock. In the event that they attempt to comply with you, you’ll get a notification requesting entry.
—Kelvin Chan, Related Press enterprise author