Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, it will take you a little more than one click to clean up your Twitter account, but if you want to wipe the slate clean, I came across a tool that you should like and that is very easy to use.
Twitter File Eraser is a small free and open source software that will allow you to scan your Twitter account (by retrieving an archive of the latter) in order to list all your tweets, all your “Likes” and even all your direct messages (DM) to delete them one by one or in bulk.
Clean up your Twitter account with Twitter Archive Eraser
To begin, you will need to download the software from the dedicated website. Note that there is a portable version that requires no installation and a version with installation. I have successfully tested the portable version which works perfectly.
It only takes three steps to delete thousands of tweets:
Step 1 – Authorize the app on Twitter
Once the app is launched, click the big "Sign In" button to go to Twitter. Log in to Twitter and allow the app to access certain data in your account (read tweets in your feed, see who you follow, and follow new people, update your profile, and post Tweets on your behalf). The app will not have access to your private messages (unless you click the box to do so) or your password and email.
Twitter will then show you a 7-digit code to enter into the app to authenticate it.
Step 2 – Upload or fetch your tweets, likes and private messages
Case of tweets
If you want to take care of your tweets, download your Twitter archive (https://twitter.com/settings/account) and then upload it directly as a zip file to Twitter Archive Eraser.
Select tweets to delete, grouped by month. There is no limit on the number of tweets you can upload/delete.
Case of Likes and Private Messages
Click "Start" to begin retrieving your likes or private messages. Twitter imposes a limit on the number of items retrieved every 15 minutes (presumably 3000 likes and 800 DMs). So, if you want to retrieve more, Twitter Archive Eraser will automatically try again once the timer has expired.
Press “Next”.
Step 3 – Search, Filter and Bulk Delete
Select the posts you want to delete or unlike. Please note, by default they are all checked to be deleted!
You can also use filters or search for keywords to delete only certain messages.
Once you have made your selection, you can press “Delete selected tweets” to start the machine and delete your past!
Finally, if these explanations are not clear, the developer has made a demonstration video:
If you are concerned about the security of your Twitter account, the developer has uploaded the source code to Github for anyone to access or improve.
In short, this software is really useful if you need to do a targeted or massive cleanup on your Twitter account! The only small downside is that Twitter Archive Eraser no longer seems to have been updated since September 2015, but as long as it works... That's why the program still talks about "Favorites" rather than "Likes"... The change was made by Twitter in early November 2015.
Article updated on January 7, 2025 by Byothe
