Twitter King Elon Musk warned Twitter users that their follower counts would likely drop as he is actively purging user accounts which have been dormant “for several years.”
Cleaning house is what Musk promised to do at Twitter — and this is quite literally that, removing legacy clutter from the database, aiming at accounts that were once active but no longer contribute to Twitter’s lively debate space.
But what if an account, no longer vital, still holds value for the content it contributed in the past? Controversial alpha male guy Andrew Tate sent Musk a request about just such an account, one that means something to him even if it’s no longer active — the account of his late father, Emory Tate.
Andrew Tate responded directly to Musk’s warning, asking if his father’s account could be preserved — likely giving Musk new ideas about some kind of alternative checkmark (what color?!!) for accounts having this status — inactive and unrefreshed, but still significant.
Delete his dead dad #DeleteHisDeadDad pic.twitter.com/vMPsta1bRt
— apprentice folklorist 🔊🦪 (@aniceburrito) May 8, 2023
Significance is in the eye of the beholder, of course, and Andrew Tate being a lone audience member for his late father’s historical tweets probably isn’t enough of a reason to keep the account alive. But the question is interesting. Donald Trump hasn’t tweeted in a couple of years, but one assumes his account won’t be wiped out in the Musk purge.
Significance in Trump’s case is obvious, but it isn’t impossible — for a data hound like Musk — to determine via other metrics.
[Not surprisingly, Andrew Tate — a figure whose opinions and alleged misogyny evoke passionate dissent from many — had his request dumped on rudely by his opponents, as above.]
