Analysis of Google Trends data reveals that web search trends for ‘Delete Twitter Account’ in the U.S. grew 335 percent on 1st week of November, 2022, around the same day when Elon Musk officially bought Twitter for $44 billion. Atypical for a takeover on this scale, the process was played out in public.
Many of the concerns are connected with the apparent right-wing shift in terms of the social media platform’s ethos that is being constructed as the result of Musk’s acquisition.
This finding came from a business-to-business networking site called SeeBiz. The company also saw a major increase in Google web search trends for other variations like “deactivate twitter”, “delete twitter”, “how to deactivate twitter”, “deactivate twitter account” etc. All the search term variations related to delete twitter are following same increasing trend as per the Google.
According to Richard Seymour writing in The Guardian, Musk has not purchased Twitter as the outcome of sound business analysis. Instead, this is part of political project and the consequences are unlikely to be positive. Seymour writes that Musk: “Notoriously rules by fear, breaking the law, busting unions and firing employees who criticise him. He appears to want to establish the same pattern at Twitter, based on his apparently unassailable conviction that he knows best.”
The chaos surrounding Elon Musk and his Twitter takeover seems to have upset a lot of the social media platform’s user base. Similar increase in trend these terms was also seen in the last week of April 2022, when Twitter initially announced that it had come to an agreement with Elon Musk.
Analysis was also performed on the same trend in Google search volume as well:
| Keywords and phrases | Jul-22 | Aug-22 | Sep-22 | Oct-22 | Increase % |
| delete twitter account | 60,500 | 60,500 | 49,500 | 110,000 | 94% |
| deactivate twitter | 4,400 | 4,400 | 3,600 | 8,100 | 96% |
| delete twitter | 5,400 | 5,400 | 4,400 | 12,100 | 139% |
| how to delete twitter | 6,600 | 6,600 | 3,600 | 6,600 | 18% |
| how to deactivate twitter | 3,600 | 2,900 | 2,900 | 5,400 | 72% |
| deactivate twitter account | 1,600 | 1,600 | 1,300 | 2,900 | 93% |
| how to delete your twitter account | 2,400 | 2,400 | 1,900 | 3,600 | 61% |
| how to delete twitter account permanently | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,900 | 90% |
| how to delete my twitter account | 1,600 | 1,300 | 1,300 | 3,600 | 157% |
| how do I delete my twitter account | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,600 | 8,100 | 350% |
In the U.S., the reaction to the buyout has been split along partisan lines, with praise for Musk’s planned reforms and vision for the company, particularly his calls for greater free speech coming from those of a conservative leaning. In contrast, Musk has received harsh criticism over fears of a potential rise in misinformation, disinformation, harassment, and hate speech on the platform, from those of a liberal or social democratic persuasion.
