How you can Stop Twitter / Elon Musk's X

As soon as upon a time, Twitter – now X – was THE place to get memes, world information and popular culture. Nonetheless, even again then, being an energetic Twitter consumer additionally required wading by means of a every day deluge of poisonous characters, bots and deepfakes. Then the Elon Musk circus got here to city and commenced always tweaking the previously standard social community, to the purpose the place a lot of its followers started to stop by switching to a number of of the brand new social networks, akin to Threads, Bluesky or Mastodon.

Now that the 2024 US presidential election is over, Musk appears to be like set to be at the very least one of many powers behind the throne. Add to that the latest modifications which have made X much less secure to make use of, and it's no shock that there’s now a brand new wave of X customers seeking to go away the platform. In case you are one among them, listed here are some tips about how you can deactivate your account.

Should you're nonetheless energetic on X or have a variety of associates and followers you need to communicate with, you would possibly need to be sure that they know the place you're going and why. A technique to do that is to first make your account personal so solely your followers can see it. present to see your account.

• Look within the browser aspect menu or faucet the non-public icon within the cell app.
• Within the browser, choose Extra > Settings and privateness > Privateness and security > Viewers, media and tagging > Shield your posts.
• Within the cell app, choose Settings and help > Settings and privateness > Privateness and security > Viewers and tagging > Shield your posts.
• Within the pop-up browser window, choose Shield.

Now solely individuals who comply with it is possible for you to to see your posts and different account data. You will note a closed lock icon subsequent to your title. within the decrease left nook of the display.

What you set in your “I'm leaving now” message will depend on who your followers are. Should you've fastidiously checked your account and know virtually everybody who follows you, you possibly can inform them the place you're going and what your new tackle is in case they need to comply with you.

If, however, you're a preferred particular person and also you may need followers who aren't utterly reliable, you possibly can both inform them the place you're going with none particulars – or, to be cautious, simply inform them and easily bye.

How lengthy do you have to go away your account personal earlier than leaving for good? Per week or so looks like a superb period of time, however finally, it's as much as you.

Should you've been on Twitter/X for some time, you'll in all probability have a load of tweets you'd prefer to hold in case there's data you'll need sooner or later or simply as a reminder of previous glories. Should you haven't been repeatedly backing up your account, right here's how:

• Look within the browser aspect menu or faucet the non-public icon within the cell app.
• Within the browser, choose Extra > Settings & Privateness > Your Account > Obtain an archive of your information.
• Within the cell app, choose Settings & Help > Settings & Privateness > Your Account > Obtain an archive of your information.
• You can be requested to re-enter your password and enter a verification code out of your registered electronic mail account, together with presumably different verification codes.
• Choose Request the archive.

It could take as much as 24 hours to get a duplicate of your archive; you’ll obtain notifications each by means of the app and through electronic mail. You’ll obtain the knowledge in two codecs: HTML and JSON. In line with X, the knowledge will embrace:

…your data profile, your posts, your messages direct messages, your moments, media (pictures, movies and GIFs you've connected to posts, direct messages or moments), an inventory of your followers, an inventory of accounts you comply with, your calendar of addresses, Lists you've created, are a member of, or comply with, curiosity and demographic data we've inferred about you, details about advertisements you've seen or interacted with X and extra.

Okay, you've advised your followers you're leaving and safely archived your posts. Now it's time to deactivate your account. Right here's how you can do it:

• Within the browser, click on on Extra on the backside left of the display. Within the cell app, faucet your profile icon.
• Within the browser, choose Settings & Help > Settings & Privateness > your account > Deactivate your account.
• Within the cell app, choose Settings & Help > Settings & Privateness > Your Account > Deactivate Account.

There are a number of paragraphs of data to learn earlier than you get to the deactivation hyperlink, together with hyperlinks telling you what information should still be out there after you deactivate your account, how you can change your username, or how you can change your username present to a different account. .

Additionally, you will be told that your account it received't be gone for good after this trial – at the very least, not but. X retains your data for 30 days earlier than completely deleting it. To revive your account inside that interval, register once more and make sure that you just need to reactivate your account.

And don't overlook, for those who're on the lookout for social media, information and dialog, you've received extra alternate options – or you possibly can simply come right here for The Verge. Don't fear. We’re all the time right here for you.