How to delete your Twitter history

Over the previous couple of months, Elon Musk’s X, which was previously referred to as Twitter, has been a effervescent cauldron of unusual promoting selections, steady upheavals, and bizarre overflows of testosterone.

Not that Twitter has ever been calm waters. Earlier than Musk, Twitter was the social media world’s most dependable double-edged sword. One minute, you have been retweeting a humorous meme account and having fun with some healthful dialogue about your present TV binge fixation, and the subsequent, you have been being buried by a harassment marketing campaign or discovering your day ruined by a thread that makes you wish to throw your laptop computer by the window.

Both manner, for those who’re now on X or have been ever on Twitter, it’s a good suggestion to take precautions together with your posting historical past since, even for those who’ve moved on to a number of different social networks, it’s potential that anyone will unearth considered one of your previous tweets and create a firestorm with out you even being conscious it’s taking place. (And whereas it’s not essentially unhealthy to have the ability to ignore one thing like that, it’s most likely a good suggestion to know when it’s erupting.)

So, no matter whether or not you’ve lower Twitter out of your life, the perfect safety you’ll be able to present your self is the deletion of your Twitter historical past. Right here’s the place to begin for those who’re interested by nuking your timeline and protecting future tweets from falling into the web’s vindictive void of posterity.

Earlier than you decide on a way to wipe your Twitter historical past, it’s advisable that you just archive your tweets first. To start with, which means you’ll be able to simply maintain on to the folder within the occasion you ever wish to casually scroll again to that three-month interval if you first signed up for Twitter and all you could possibly assume to tweet about was breakfast and the climate and earnest hashtag use.

However the principle purpose that you just wish to archive your tweets is that, when you have greater than 3,200 tweets, you received’t be capable of take away them with out an archive. How come? As a result of people can solely delete particular person posts, and for those who use a third-party app, Twitter will solely permit it to delete the latest 3,200 tweets. To get round that limitation, most deletion apps use your archive (or inform you the right way to use your archive) to establish all of the older tweets you’ve amassed to allow them to eliminate them.

• Go to your Twitter account and, within the left-hand column, click on on Extra > Settings and Assist > Settings and Privateness.
• Below the Your Account column, click on on Obtain an archive of your knowledge. It may possibly take a day or extra till you get your knowledge, so for those who assume chances are you’ll be in a rush to delete your Twitter knowledge, plan forward.

Finally, you’ll get an electronic mail from Twitter inviting you to obtain your archive. It’s going to arrive in a ZIP file, which comprises a folder during which you’ll discover an HTML file. Clicking on that can open a webpage in your browser window for scrolling by your whole Twitter historical past, along with an inventory of JavaScript knowledge recordsdata.

In case you solely have just a few older tweets that you just wish to eliminate — since you discover them embarrassing, have modified your thoughts, or don’t need your new employer tripping over them — you’ll be able to delete them one after the other.

• Go to your Profile web page.
• Discover the tweet that you just wish to delete, and click on the three dots to the precise of the publish.
• Click on on Delete.
• A pop-up will ask for those who’re positive. If you’re, click on on Delete.

There are a lot of providers on the market designed that can assist you handle your Twitter historical past and wipe it clear. Some are free, and a few cost a subscription payment. None can instantly delete greater than your most up-to-date 3,200 tweets. (This is a function of Twitter’s API.) Nevertheless, many of the apps have discovered a manner of getting round it by serving to you obtain your archive (see the first step above) after which utilizing the archive to, in essence, delete a specified vary of tweets that have been created earlier than these 3,200.

And even for those who’ve used considered one of these to delete all of your previous tweets, it’s a good suggestion to return and examine. There have been stories, together with from Verge staffers, that “deleted” posts have mysteriously reappeared.

TweetDelete, among the finest recognized, is an internet software that permits you to each delete your Twitter historical past and set a timer for the deletion of future tweets. The free model solely deletes these most up-to-date 3,200 tweets. The corporate does supply three paid plans: a Starter plan for $5.99 a month or $35 a 12 months that can delete as much as 500 tweets a month; a Professional plan that, for $6.49 a month or $40 a 12 months, will delete as much as 3,200 tweets a month; or the Premium plan for $6.99 a month or $44 a 12 months that makes an attempt to get across the 3,200-tweet limitation by importing your Twitter knowledge file after which letting you delete a variety of particular tweets. Based on TweetDelete’s privacy policy, the info recordsdata are mechanically eliminated after three days; there’s additionally a button on the web page that, in accordance with TweetDelete, will delete your account and all related saved knowledge.

TweetEraser is owned by the identical firm — TD Social LLC — that owns TweetDelete. So, not surprisingly, it’s comparable and presents comparable options. In truth, its record of premium options is sort of an identical to that of TweetDelete, and its costs are precisely the identical besides that, as an alternative of a Starter plan, Professional plan, and Premium plan, TweetEraser presents a Newbie plan, Superior plan, and Professional plan. The one variations are that TweetEraser doesn’t supply a free model, and it claims “further quick” deletion within the Superior plan and “tremendous quick” deletion within the Professional plan. We’ve contacted TweetEraser for details about how one can delete your knowledge from the service if you want.

TweetDeleter can even delete your older tweets utilizing the identical technique because the earlier two apps: through the use of your Twitter archive to search out and delete these posts. In case you solely wish to delete sure tweets, you could find them utilizing key phrases or whether or not they’re connected to media. TweetDeleter presents a Normal plan that permits you to delete as much as 100 tweets per thirty days for $7.99 a month or $47.88 a 12 months; the Superior plan deletes as much as 3,000 posts and three,000 likes for $9.99 a month or $59.88 a 12 months, and the Limitless plan allows you to delete a vast variety of tweets and likes (together with abruptly) for $11.99 a month or $71.88 a 12 months. Based on the corporate, uploaded archive recordsdata are completely deleted from their servers, uploaded tweets are retained till manually deleted, and the info of customers who depart the service is deleted after two months.

Redact is a downloadable app for macOS, Home windows, and Linux that deletes posts from an impressively huge number of providers. The free model deletes limitless posts on Reddit and Twitter and 30 days’ price of posts from Fb and Discord. For $84 yearly, you’ll be able to delete a vast variety of posts from all of these providers; take away posts from, in accordance with Redact, over 40 providers in complete; schedule bulk deletions; and revel in beta entry to new options, amongst different options. Its privacy policy states that each one person knowledge might be deleted upon request.

Replace August twenty ninth, 2023, 8:23AM ET: This text was initially printed on July twenty sixth, 2018. It has been up to date to replicate latest modifications to Twitter / X and tweet-deleting providers and so as to add details about the privateness insurance policies of those providers.