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+Document: WM-061                                                 P. Webb
+Category: Social                                              2024.12.16
+
+                                Twitter
+
+Abstract
+
+   …yay?
+
+Body
+
+   I've been unbanned from Twitter.
+
+   Since my ban[1], I've spent time periodically attempting to appeal
+   said ban and even going as far to use an online postal service[2] to
+   formally request my data from Twitter's Data Protection Officer.
+
+   I've been on Twitter for 15 years. The thought of all that data being
+   locked behind bullshit was infuriating. Anyhoo, last week I received
+   this email:
+
+   > Hello,
+   >
+   > We’re writing to let you know that we've unsuspended your account.
+   > We’re sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you back on
+   > X soon.
+   >
+   > A little background: we have systems that find and remove multiple
+   > automated spam accounts in bulk, and yours was flagged as spam by
+   > mistake. Please note that it may take an hour or so for your
+   > follower and following numbers to return to normal.
+   >
+   > If you need to get in touch with us again, please file a report
+   > through your X app or our forms page, as this account isn’t
+   > monitored for replies.
+   >
+   > Thanks,
+   >
+   > X Support
+
+   Honestly, I don't believe this…especially when this "error" was
+   discovered the same day The Guardian reported[3] on the mass exodus
+   from ElonNet. I think Twitter looked at their numbers and thought,
+   "Our metrics are looking dreadful," and figured unbanning the banned
+   would make us ever so grateful to be allowed in that our usage of
+   Twitter would return to pre-Elon levels. Furthermore, you visit
+   Twitter today and you'll find plenty of spam accounts within five
+   minutes of scrolling.
+
+   Nah.
+
+   After the election[4], I deleted my remaining Twitter accounts. I
+   literally have no reason to remain on the platform.
+
+   Though I gotta admit, having access to my account again and seeing
+   tweets from the people I follow who haven't yet aborted felt quite
+   nice. It felt familiar. When I tabbed over to the "For You" feed
+   though, reality set in. There's no saving this place, it's time to
+   move on.
+
+   I also sent complaints to the Public Inquiry Unit of the Office of
+   the Attorney General and got a response from them and Twitter the
+   same day:
+
+   > Hello,
+   >
+   > We are responding to your request for information regarding
+   > account, @NetOpWibby. You can download the information with
+   > this URL:
+   >
+   > https://records.twitter.com/disclaimer/randomLettersAndNumbers
+   >
+   > The URL is valid for the next 7 days. You may download the
+   > information a total of three times. A brief explanation of the
+   > information is included with the download.
+   >
+   > Additionally, your account has been reinstated, as it was suspended
+   > mistakenly. Accordingly, you can also download your data in your X
+   > account settings: https://help.x.com/en/managing-your-account/accessing-your-x-data
+   >
+   > Best,
+   >
+   > X Corp
+
+   Downloading your export from `records.twitter.com` is excrutiatingly
+   slow. I recommend doing so from a desktop computer because it'll take
+   hours. However, downloading an export from the Twitter UI is quite
+   fast and will finish in under 10 minutes (for me). Interestingly, the
+   former export will put your tweets in a single TXT file in JSON
+   format with a PGP key at the top. The latter export will provide you
+   with an HTML file so you can view your tweets in a browser.
+
+   Anyhoo, after I downloaded both exports I ran tweetXer[5] by Luca
+   Hammer[6] to delete my content from the platform. The great thing
+   about tweetXer is that it has a button that exports your bookmarks,
+   something the official exports don't provide. The deletion process
+   took maybe an hour and some change.
+
+   I haven't deleted this last account yet. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe
+   it's to protect my username from being used maliciously? Maybe
+   there's a chance Elon will get ousted? Maybe I'm being sentimental?
+   Idk. I logged out. Most of the people I follow are active on other
+   platforms so I'm not missing anything.
+
+   Some great perks to finally having my data is that 1) I can stop
+   obsessing over not having it, 2) I can host my tweets[7], and 3) I
+   can train a local LLM on 15 years of content!
+
+   So long, Twitter! My online presence is fragmented due to your
+   impending death but that no longer bothers me. After all, we used to
+   have accounts across several forums and other online communities.
+   Nature is healing.
+
+   Rebirth of an era. 🕸️
+
+   ---
+
+   2024.12.19 UPDATE
+
+   Remember me sending Twitter snail mail to get my data?
+   They've responded:
+
+   > Hello,
+   >
+   > We have received a request for certain information regarding an X
+   > account, @netopwibby, via post.
+   >
+   > If you are still having issues downloading your X archive, please
+   > confirm in your reply.
+   >
+   > Please note that all your X data is available directly via your X
+   > account, as explained in the following Help Center Page: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20172679
+   >
+   > Sincerely,
+   >
+   > X Corp
+
+   The top of the email says "Reply above this line." This is an
+   interesting change from their usual, "this email is not monitored so
+   don't reply" tagline. Maybe they're trying to be professional for
+   once. If you're banned and trying to get your data, maybe try
+   emailing `dpo-support@x.com` directly? YMMV
+
+References
+
+   [1] </WM-055>
+   [2] <https://docupost.com>
+   [3] <https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/11/from-x-to-bluesky-why-are-people-abandoning-twitter-digital-town-square>
+   [4] </WM-058>
+   [5] <https://github.com/lucahammer/tweetXer>
+   [6] <https://bsky.app/profile/luca.run>
+   [7] <https://github.com/tweetback/tweetback-canonical>