Social media platforms have removed influential users for violating platform rules. While this intervention reduces harmful content on the platform, deplatforming high-profile figures may prompt general users to migrate to alternative domains, where they can continue to engage with inappropriate communication. Utilizing web tracking data from 12,400 US Twitter users, we showed that after Twitter deplatformed Donald Trump, users had no immediate change in Twitter usage, but their engagement with the platform decreased slightly over time. Meanwhile, they demonstrated an increase in visiting alternative domains, although this spike gradually tapered off. This pattern varied across the population: Those frequently consuming left-leaning news immediately increased Twitter usage, whereas users visiting right-leaning outlets displayed a rise in using alternative social media, especially among heavy consumers of right-leaning news. These findings highlight the importance of investigating two separate processes of platform migration, non-use and new use, for appraising the impact of content moderation.
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