Twitter’s ease of expression makes making statements that could backfire easy. Although you may have deleted those controversial tweets, people could still have some unfinished business with those tweets. Often, people go after deleted tweets for different reasons. This should not be surprising, especially if a public figure is involved. But whatever your reasons are for wanting to see deleted tweets, it is entirely possible.
Specific resources on the internet allow Twitter users to view their deleted tweets and that of someone else’s. These include independent web applications, internet search engines, and Twitter features. Despite the slim possibility of recovering these tweets, there are several ways to see deleted tweets. Luckily, this guide lists these methods and explains how to use them.
How To See Deleted Tweets: Unlocking Twitter’s Time Machine
Many Twitter users conclude that tweets disappear into thin air as soon as someone deletes them. While this is not entirely false, several ways to view these tweets exist. Although Twitter does not provide a recycle bin where you can access these removed tweets, several other services offer options. So, if your concern is how to see deleted tweets, the internet offers you many possibilities.
Download Your Twitter Archive To See Deleted Tweets
Accessing your Twitter archive is one of the top ways to see deleted tweets from your account. Twitter archives carry users’ account information, including tweets, direct messages, moments, media, and account history. This is a more comprehensive way of gathering all the tweets you’ve ever made, including those you’ve removed. Your Twitter archive offers a hard copy of your complete account and holds your records if you ever lose your account.
To access your Twitter archive, launch Twitter and visit the sidebar. Head to your “Settings and Support,” then visit “Settings and Privacy” before choosing “Your account.” From the four options on your device’s screen, choose the fourth, “Download an archive of your data.” Twitter will require that you verify your identity before continuing the process.
It usually takes a while for your archive to be ready, from days to weeks. But when it is, Twitter will send a push or email notification. Following the notification will bring you back to your accounts page, where you can download the archive zip file. Finally, you’ll have to unzip the file and access the documents to view your information.
Usually, the zip file you’ll receive would contain an html file where you can go through your archive in a browser. The file would also contain a CSV file which you can open as a spreadsheet package. You can see deleted tweets from your account as you browse the archive. These are pretty easy to find because your tweets appear in a straightforward format. Also, you can search keywords and hashtags to find items therein.
Always remember to update and verify your email before requesting your archive. This is because Twitter sends a backup copy of your archive to the mail.
Twitter’s Advanced Search Allows Users To See Deleted Tweets
The advanced search feature on Twitter offers a lot of value. Apart from making it easier to conduct precise searches, this feature allows users to see deleted tweets. This advanced search will enable users to perform search actions that would not yield the desired result in a regular Twitter search. It helps narrow the search parameters and determine the elements needed in the search result.
To use this feature, head to the Twitter advanced search page by opening the Twitter website on your mobile browser. First, log in to your account and search keywords in the search bar. After your results appear, click the three dots icon beside the search bar and choose “Advanced search.” A dialog box will appear on your screen, allowing you to continue your advanced search.
From the dialog box, visit the “Accounts” section and input the account username whose tweet you’re looking for. Input the date range in which the user made the tweet. If you remember some words in the tweets, input the keywords in the “Words” section of the advanced search. Finally, click the “Search” button, and Twitter will display the results from which you can find what you’re looking for.
Although this method is also limited in a way, it provides the needed results. It still allows users to see deleted tweets, especially if they only recently deleted them.
How To See Someone’s Deleted Tweets: Taking a Quick Step Back
The internet offers several ways to spy on others. So, while someone, a public figure, may have thought that their smug tweet was gone for good, it isn’t. There are several effective ways if you’re thinking about how to see someone’s deleted tweets. Google searches are helpful but unpopular for this problem. Options like retrieving Google cache and using a few third-party applications are effective if you’re trying to find deleted tweets.
Using Google Cache To See Deleted Tweets From Others
If Twitter’s advanced search feature does not offer what you’re looking for, Google Cache might be your answer. Google Cache is a more efficient way of detecting recently deleted tweets. The search engine Google saves data from pages on several websites, including Twitter. So, you can see deleted tweets with this feature by searching for the text in the title or body of tweets.
Because many people use Twitter daily, Google saves tweet information from the site more easily. Thus, you can still view the pages even when users delete these tweets. To do this, run a Google search on the Twitter account you’re interested in. The search will return your results, including their Twitter profile and recent tweets. If Google had cached that tweet before the user removed it, you’ll also see it in the results.
If you find the deleted tweet, click the small arrow beside its title, indicating that Google has a saved version of the page. Click on the cached link, and your internet browser will direct you to the cached version of that page. Well, you can only access infected tweets this way.
Using Google Searches To See Deleted Tweets From Others
You may not be the only one looking for that particular tweet, especially if it involves a public figure. If you’re fortunate enough, someone else may have gotten hold of the tweet before you and published it somewhere. Running a quick search on that tweet may bring up results that you’d find helpful. This way, you can see deleted tweets without breaking a sweat.
While enthusiastic fans repost deleted tweets on their Twitter handles, blogs and news websites also carry these kinds of gossip. It also depends on how controversial the deleted tweet was and how long the tweep allowed it to linger. Wild statements with overwhelming reactions from famous people would be far easier to find than simple tweets without effect.
Politwoops Allows Users To See Deleted Tweets From Politicians
Politwoops is a service that tracks removed tweets from public officials. This service covers people still in office and candidates for public offices. The web application saves and publishes removed posts, allowing people to see deleted tweets from several politicians in the United States. Although this service started in the Netherlands, a change of ownership saw it move to the US, where it continued.
Apart from elected officials, the service tracks tweets from Senate, House, Presidential, and governorship candidates. The service peaked during the 2016 presidential elections when former President Donald Trump was most active on Twitter. It helped track some of his tweets which got deleted. The service also helped in refuting the multiple fake tweets that accompanied him.
However, Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover also affected Politwoops due to several changes. So, the system is not tracking deletions at the moment. This isn’t the first time that Twitter has cut off the website.
How To See Tweets From a Deleted Account
What if the user who tweeted you’re looking for has deleted their account? Can you still get your hands on those tweets? A lot of questions like this come up. Luckily, a few internet resources help with this problem of how to see tweets from a deleted account. Let’s take a look.
Using the Wayback Machine To See Tweets From Deleted Accounts
The Wayback Machine, also known as the Internet Archive, is a beneficial invention allowing you to see deleted tweets. Don’t get me wrong; this application entirely does more than that. It is a digital archive that prowls the internet, taking screenshots of specific pages for the sake of the future. The Wayback Machine should be your next option if the user has deleted the Twitter account you’re looking for.
This application saves screenshots of web pages randomly, including Twitter pages, just as they are at the time. So, while you may be able to see deleted tweets from deleted accounts, you can’t access their full features. Luckily, the Internet Archive is easy to use.
First, find the full link to the Twitter profile you’re concerned with. If you remember their Twitter @[username], enter the link to the Twitter website, a slash, and that username. Visit the Wayback Machine’s home page, paste the link into the search bar at the screen’s center, and click enter. If the machine has saved snips from that page, it will display a calendar organized into years, months, and days.
It highlights the days it took screenshots from the page and how many shots it took off the page. You’ll have to select the year and day on which the user made the tweet you searched. Here, the machine would display the person’s Twitter profile as it appeared on that day. Scrolling down would allow you to see recent tweets from the date you picked. You’ll find what you want if you remember the correct date or at least make a close guess.
Google Cache Lets You See Deleted Tweets From Removed Accounts
Besides viewing deleted tweets, Google Cache can access deleted accounts and their tweets. Likewise, this technique is more effective for recently deleted Twitter accounts. Run a Google search on the account to see deleted tweets from removed accounts. You can access the cached pages of these accounts and their tweets from your results, thus getting the tweets you’re after. At TweetEraser, we’ve designed a simple, easy-to-use web application that filters and deletes bulk tweets. With this web application, users can import and load Twitter archives, which they can remove with a few clicks. TweetEraser is ideal for restoring your privacy and cleaning up your profile. So, start filtering and cleaning your Twitter timeline today!
