How to delete a Twitter DM you regret sending in the first place

How to delete that regrettable Twitter Direct Message before someone sees it

By Francis Bea February 18, 2013

delete twitter dM — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’ve ever sent a DM that you’ve regretted, you’re in luck. According to CNET, there is a method for deleting these poor choices.

If you delete the DM in question, the message disappears from both your outbox and recipient’s inbox. There’s no trace of it, code-wise at least. But if the recipient has already opened the regretful DM, you’re obviously out of options.

But if you can get to it before the recipient does, here how you can save yourself some embarrassment:

Click on the gear icon in your navigation bar.
Scroll down and click on “Direct Messages.”
Find the offending DM thread and open it up.
Hover over the direct message that you want to delete, and you should see a trash can icon.
Click on the trash can icon.
Click on “Delete message” to confirm the deletion.
Sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. You’ve just deleted your first DM.

If you want to delete the entire thread, however, you’ll have to go through each message in the DM and delete them individually until you have no more messages remaining. Only then the thread will completely disappear from both of your DM inboxes, removing any evidence that you and the recipient chatted privately.

Keep in mind though, if you’re treating this delete feature like the “Undo send” feature that comes in oh-so-handy with Gmail, there’s the possibility that the recipient receives all Twitter notifications via email to their smartphones including that DM you just deleted. To be safe, prepare for any fall out.

With the right (write?) mindset, you can use Twitter like a boss, staying abreast of the most popular memes, the latest news, and what all of your friends are up to. But maybe you’re tired of the 280-character microblogging platform that is Twitter. Maybe you’re sick of all the obnoxious hashtag trends, sponsored tweets, lack of civility, and trolls. Thankfully, it isn’t complicated to delete your Twitter account — in fact, the process is easy if you know what you’re doing. Here’s our complete guide on how to delete your twitter account once and for all.

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