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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>
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