How to Find and Bulk Delete Your Vulgar Twitter Story
Tweets have consequences. Just last week, a writer revealed that he was turned down for a job because of a tweet about wanting to “burn” Whole Foods. The obviously jocular arson tweet in question? It was published over three years ago.
Do you remember everything you tweeted three years ago? What harmless, outdated or vulgar jokes can haunt you? Even if you make your account private, anything you’ve posted in the past could potentially be leaked. Luckily, you have several search and destroy tools at your disposal that can embarrass you or harm who you are now. Whether you have two followers or two million, you can and should remove the nasty parts of your online footprint. Here are ways you can deep clean your Twitter history.
Optional: Upload your Twitter history first.
Can’t delete all traces of your Twitter? There is a simple process for uploading your Twitter archive if you need it for posterity, security, or any other personal reason you might want to keep all of your past posts.
Go to your Twitter settings and select ” Your Account” and then ” Upload an archive of your data “. After you request your details, you will be asked to verify your account. Once verified, you’ll receive a message stating that it may take up to 24 hours for Twitter to process your request.
Find the bad words you need to delete
You might not want to bulk delete years-old tweets – maybe you think it looks fishy or just seems unnecessary. To filter selected tweets by time period or a specific keyword, advanced Twitter search will help you. Here’s how to use it.
- Use the Twitter search bar (upper right corner on your desktop). Enter keywords such as “burn” or “Whole Foods”.
- Click “More Options” and then “Advanced Search”.
- Fill in the required filters. You can limit the results to only your account and a specific time period.
- Delete everything that appears.
Advanced search is a lifesaver if you know exactly what tweet (or era of tweet) you’re looking for, but don’t want to start scrolling back to 2012. However, if you know you want to remove just about every thought posted since 2012, keep reading.
Use the bulk delete service
There are many sites that delete your tweets in bulk to give you a fresh start. Plus, there are enough reliable free options so you don’t have to use one that requires a free subscription. Everything works the same, allowing you to bulk delete tweets based on filters like age and keywords.
The best choice seems to be TweetDelete , a free service witha simple privacy policy . Other free sites are so full of ads that it’s almost impossible to navigate, but TweetDelete is perfectly usable.
If you really want the feeling of security that comes with paid services, try TweetDeleter or TweetEraser .
Delete your account
It came to this. nuclear option. To be as safe as possible, fix the problem at the source. Go to “Settings”, scroll down and select “Deactivate my account”.
Deleting an account is an irreversible process. Your old tweets are officially gone for good (unless someone has screenshots). I believe that deactivation also comes with the feeling of having a million pounds lifted off your shoulders. You can dream.