Twitter forgets dead people, suspends plan to delete inactive accounts

Twitter forgot about dead people.

The social media giant awkwardly copped to that fact late Wednesday morning with a tweet admitting that, perhaps, its recently announced plan to free up inactive accounts for new registration may not have been entirely thought through. Specifically, the company admitted to overlooking the impact such a process might have on accounts that once belonged to the dearly departed.

"We’ve heard you on the impact that this would have on the accounts of the deceased," wrote the company. "This was a miss on our part."

Tweet may have been deleted

Indeed, the idea that inactive accounts would be removed from the service — thus freeing up the Twitter handle to be registered again by a new users — is problematic for all kinds of reasons (think: fraud). That it might also wipe the digital record of one's loved ones is yet another unpleasant wrinkle in the plan.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Which is why, at least for now, the entire thing has been put on hold.

"We will not be removing any inactive accounts until we create a new way for people to memorialize accounts," Twitter explained.

SEE ALSO: Twitter to free up inactive handles, and this will definitely get ugly

When reached for comment about whenTwitter might create such a process for memorializing accounts, a spokesperson told us they had "no further details to share at this time."

In other words, it might be a while.