Twitter CEO Elon Musk said the company will purge inactive accounts on the platform that have been inactive for years, potentially freeing up a number of long-coveted usernames.

"We're purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop," Musk tweeted on Monday.

Moreover, the tech billionaire clarified in a subsequent tweet in response to a question about username availability that "yes", a large number of usernames were about to become available as a result of this move.

However, he did not explain how users would obtain these usernames other than the usual method of attempting to create a new account with a specific name.

According to Twitter's inactive account policy, "to keep your account active, be sure to log in at least every 30 days. Accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity".

Meanwhile, Twitter has backtracked on its decision to put its application programming interface (API) behind a paywall and will allow emergency and transportation service providers to access its APIs for free.

Twitter in February announced to stop offering free access to its API and instead launch a paid version for developers worldwide.

After the controversial decision, several emergency and transportation accounts encountered issues posting alerts to the platform. [IANS/NS]