Twitter is purging inactive accounts, including people who have died

WASHINGTON— Emily Reed lost her younger sister Jessica more than 10 years ago. For much of the last decade, she's visited Jessica's Twitter page to help “keep her memory alive.”

Twitter became one of the places where Emily processed her grief and reconnected with a sister she describes as almost like a twin. But Jessica's account is now gone.

Last week, owner Elon Musk announced Twitter would be purging accounts that have had no activity for several years. That decision has been met by an outcry from those who have lost, or who fear losing the thoughts and words of deceased loved ones linked to now-inactive accounts.

Reed immediately returned to Jessica's page as she had done a day or two earlier after learning of the purge. In place of Jessica's page was an "account suspended” message that suggested it may be in violation Twitter rules.

Reed's tweet recounting her shock over the loss of the account has received tens of thousands of responses. Others shared similar experiences of pain upon learning that the account of a deceased loved one had vanished.

“Having these digital footprints... is super important to me,” Reed, 43, told The Associated Press.

The advent of social media has come with new way in which people mourn, returning to the place where they connected with friends and family in the past. In addition to memories and physical traces left behind, snippets of lives are have are now being captured in the digital space.

It is something that social media platforms have wrestled with for recent years.

Twitter backed off an attempt to purge inactive accounts in 2019, years before Musk arrived, due to a similar backlash.

Other social media sites have found ways to allow people to mourn those they've lost.

Facebook and Instagram allow users to request an account be deactivated, or a memorialization of the account. Memorialized accounts show the word “Remembering” next to the person's name.

“In this modern age, we have these electronic reminders of people — (including) little snippets of a thought they had on a particular day or pictures that they shared,” said Shira Gabriel, professor of psychology at University at Buffalo. Looking through a late loved one's social media can be both a healthy way to process grief and gather as a community in remembrance, Gabriel said.

The prospect of that resource disappearing “can bring about a sense of mourning again,” Gabriel said. “There is a real psychological cost of getting rid of this digital thumbprint that was left behind and this ability for community members to gather in one spot.”

Richard Drew/Associated Press This image shows the account suspended notice of Jessica Reed on the Twitter page of her younger sister Emily Reed. On May 8, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced the platform would be “purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years.” The news caused outrage among people fearing they could lose tweets that now-inactive accounts, including those belonging to users who have died, left behind on the app.