LONDON (AP) — Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, renamed it X, fired much of its staff and made other big changes, a steady stream of celebrities, public figures, organizations and ordinary people have quit the social media platform.
Some blame Musk for turning a place that used to be fun into one that's chaotic and toxic, pointing to moves like allowing polarizing figures such as Donald Trump back in. Others are turned off by Musk's juvenile humor or by how he's increasingly barging into their feeds with his posts, often to amplify far-right tropes.
They're defecting to rival sites like BlueSky, Mastodon, Meta's Threads, and Reddit. Some even are — gasp — quitting social media altogether.
So if you've decided it's time to exit X, here's what you need to do:
Begin by deactivating your account, which starts a 30-day countdown until your account is deleted permanently. Go to settings and privacy, then to the Account tab and click Deactivate your Account, enter your password and confirm you want to proceed.
Once you go ahead, your profile and username will be hidden from public view. If you change your mind, you can stop the process by logging in at any point during the 30-day period.
If you've signed up for a subscription, like a premium account, cancel that if you don't want to make another payment. Subscriptions are only automatically canceled when the account is deleted.
If your account somehow gets reactivated even though you didn't want to, X says on its help pages that it might be because you've granted access to third-party apps. These are built by other software developers and can do things like read and make posts or access direct messages on your behalf.
To see which third-party apps you've given access to, head to the settings menu, then Security and Account Access. Click Apps and Sessions, and then Connected Apps. You can revoke access to individual apps by tapping or clicking on each one.
If you suspect that a rogue app still has access to your account, try changing your password for X.
Before you leave for good, you can download an archive of all your data from your time on Twitter and X. It could be useful if you want to look up a memorable post you wrote, refer back to direct messages you traded with other users, or find the accounts that you followed or were following you.
In the settings menu, you’ll need to enter your password to request the data, which will come in a zip file. When I requested my archive, which amounted to 211 megabytes of data, it was available to download about 24 hours later.
What happens to that data once you're gone for good? X says on its privacy page that it keeps users' profile information and content “for the duration of your account.” It holds on to other “personally identifiable data” for up to 18 months, without being more specific on what that data is.
It has become a ritual for X users to announce they're departing the platform. Politicians and celebrities have used their final post to take a parting shot at Musk, warn that the site is becoming too toxic, or let their followers know about the other social media venues they're using. Then, their statements usually disappear because their account is deleted.
Users who aren't famous have drafted heartfelt farewell letters, on X, their blogs or platforms like LinkedIn, explaining their reasons for leaving. It's not necessary, though it might help you achieve closure.
Are you sure you want to leave, permanently? If you're not ready to commit to full deletion, you could instead lock down your account.
Go to the privacy section in your settings, then click on Your posts and then tick the boxes to protect your posts and videos.
Protecting your posts means that only people who follow you already will be able to see them. Any other users will see a padlock. If they try to follow you, you'll get a notification requesting access.
Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
Ana Claudia, a salesperson at a cell phone case store located inside the bus station, shows the last X post she received before the social media platform was blocked nationwide in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes remained stuck in place on Tuesday as Wall Street made few big moves ahead of what’s expected to be the first cut to interest rates in more than four years.
The S&P 500 edged up by 1.49, or less than 0.1%, to 5,634.58. It remains 0.6% below its all-time closing high set in July, and it briefly rose above that mark during the morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 15.90 points, or less than 0.1%, to 41,606.18 from its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite edged up by 35.93, or 0.2%, to 17,628.06.
Intel helped drive the market with a gain of 2.7% following a series of announcements, including an expansion of its partnership with Amazon Web Services to produce custom chips. Intel also detailed plans to build its foundry business.
That helped offset a 2.2% drop for Philip Morris International, which said it expects to record a loss of $220 million against its third-quarter results because of the sale of its Vectura Group inhaled-therapeutics subsidiary.
The calm movements for the U.S. stock market overall were a sharp departure from prior weeks, during which the S&P 500 briefly fell nearly 10% below its all-time high. At the time, global markets were reeling on worries that a slowing U.S. economy could fall into a recession, along with some technical factors that forced hedge funds around the world to back out of a popular trade all at once.
Since then, excitement has built about an announcement scheduled for Wednesday afternoon from the Federal Reserve. The unanimous expectation on Wall Street is that the Fed will cut the federal funds rate, which has been sitting in a range of 5.25% to 5.50% for more than a year.
Lower rates would make things easier for the economy, which has already begun to slow because it’s become so expensive to borrow money for everything from houses to cars to corporate debt. The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of grinding down on the economy enough to stifle high inflation.
Now that inflation is down substantially from its peak two summers ago, the Fed believes it can shift its focus more toward protecting the job market and economy. The only question is how much the Fed will cut rates by, and that is a delicate balancing act.
While lowering rates gives a boost to the overall economy and to financial markets, it can also give inflation more fuel. Some critics say the Fed is already moving too late to help the economy, while others warn of inflation staying stubbornly higher than it has in the past.
The general expectation on Wall Street is for the Fed to deliver a larger-than-usual cut of half of a percentage point on Wednesday, according to data from CME Group. But it’s not a certainty. Traders are still betting on a 35% probability for a traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point,
Economic reports released Tuesday did little to change those expectations. One said U.S. shoppers spent more at retailers last month than expected. That’s an encouraging signal indicating strength for the heart of the U.S. economy, but details underneath the surface may have been more discouraging. After ignoring automobiles and fuel, sales at U.S. retailers last month were a touch weaker than economists expected.
“This data isn’t going to decide the issue for the Fed, one way or the other,” Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley, said about the size of Wednesday’s rate cut.
A separate report that came later in the morning said U.S. industrial production returned to growth in August and was stronger than economists expected.
In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.64% from 3.62% late Monday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed’s actions, rose to 3.59% from 3.56%.
In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% after the value the Japanese yen ticked higher against the U.S. dollar.
The yen has been rising on expectations the Bank of Japan will continue to head in the opposite direction of the Federal Reserve and keep raising interest rates. A stronger yen can hurt the profits of Japan’s big exporters.
Stock indexes rose modestly across much of Europe, while markets were closed in mainland China and South Korea.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
The New York Stock Exchange, with a banner for American Eagle Outfitters, is shown on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
FILE - The American flag hangs from the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 10, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm in Tokyo, on May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE - People walk in front of Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Tokyo, on May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
