Elon Musk Is Buying Twitter & Here's How To Delete Your Account If You Want Out
He really hopes you'll stay...
Elon Musk is about to become the owner, boss, CEO, troll-in-chief or "Technoking" of Twitter, and if that makes you nervous, then just know that there's a way out.
Tens of thousands of people tweeted that they'd be leaving Twitter on Monday, after news leaked that Twitter's board would be accepting Musk's offer to buy the company for $44 billion.
Many others simply tweeted "#RIPTwitter," amid fears that the world's richest man would mess around too much with the platform they love.
Of course, Musk doesn't want anyone to go, and he kinda-sorta tried to change some minds with a tweet.
"I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means," he wrote on Monday.
Whatever your reason for leaving Twitter, you actually have to commit to it if you want to be 100% out.
Whether you're just stepping away for a while or going nuclear on your account, the first step is to deactivate it, according to Twitter.
To delete or deactivate, simply go to your account and click “More,” “Settings and privacy,” “Your Account” and then hit “Deactivate your account.” You’ll then get the option to auto-reactivate in 30 days or 12 months, but leave those unchecked if you want to truly delete your account.
You can also use this page to request and download all your Twitter data, if that’s something you want. However, you'll have to wait for Twitter to fulfil the request before you deactivate.
If you plan to fully delete your account, you have to avoid logging in for 30 days. If you do login you'll be rescuing your account, but if you stay away, it will be permanently deleted after the time passes.
Once your account is deleted, all your messages and tweets will be gone, and your handle will be available for anyone else to use.
In other words, if Musk's new deal has you considering the nuclear option with your Twitter account, don't worry: you can still change your mind!
Or not.