Users and celebrities alike threatened to terminate their accounts when business magnate Elon Musk gained control of the microblogging service Twitter, expressing their displeasure with the new leadership. Many of these users eventually come to the realization that this is easier said than done because they frequently back out of their threat and continue to use Twitter as usual (much like some Americans who promise to move to Canada).
However, it appears that this is no longer the case since numerous users have reportedly cancelled their accounts since the “Chief Twit” assumed over.
Twitter has already had 877,000 deactivations between October 27 and November 1, according to fresh statistics from Bot Sentinel, a company that monitors fraudulent activity on the social media platform. An additional 497,000 accounts were suspended within the same time period.
Bot Sentinel calculated this amount by examining the percentage of users they track who canceled their accounts or had them suspended following Musk’s takeover. They then applied that proportion to Twitter’s whole user base, which has 237 million users as of right now.
Deactivation occurs when a user voluntarily terminates their account. On the other hand, a suspension occurs when Twitter deletes accounts due to inactivity, impersonation, or a breach of the site’s policies.
Network Contagion Research Institute conducted a different analysis that revealed malicious actors are attempting to push Twitter’s boundaries following Musk’s acquisition of the company. For instance, since Musk declared he had acquired control of Twitter, the use of the “n-word” on the platform soared by approximately 500% in just 12 hours.
The inventor of Bot Sentinel, Christopher Bouzy, believes that the antagonistic atmosphere on Twitter will eventually encourage user attrition. I think it will become a big issue for the company if consumers keep mass-deactivating their accounts, he says. “Twitter will not be any different from Parler or Truth Social if left-leaning and marginalized individuals leave the network.”
https://www.technologyreview.com
