‘Delete Twitter’ searches soar by 204 per cent as app crashing and Musk deal falters

Searches for “Delete Twitter” surged by 204 per cent after the app crashed and Elon Musk pulled out of his $44bn (£37.2bn) bid to buy the social media platform.

Searches to delete Twitter rose to more than double the average amount after users were unable to load any content on the app yesterday, research by cybersecurity firm VPNOverview.com found.

“Outages on any form of social media can cause serious frustration for users around the globe,” a spokesperson for the company said. “If users cannot rely on an app to run smoothly, then it is highly likely they will begin to look for other alternatives.”

Tesla CEO and prolific tweeter Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, had this year announced his intention to buy Twitter after becoming its biggest shareholder, but withdrew the deal last week. 

“With the dedicated following that Musk has, his decision to not go through with the purchase may have impacted many Twitter users decisions to turn away from the platform,” VPNOverview.com said.

Musk terminated the deal after claiming that Twitter did not provide him information on the amount of fake and spam accounts on the platform. Twitter has sued Musk to get him to abide by his deal. 

Twitter stock is down by about 15.5 per cent for the year.