Ticker: Feds to expand passenger rights rules on airlines; Twitter to purge inactive accounts 

President Biden says his administration will write new rules to expand the rights of airline passengers.

Biden said Monday that the rules will require airlines to compensate passengers and cover their meals and hotel rooms if they are stranded for reasons within the airline’s control.

It’s the administration’s latest salvo at the airlines, and it comes just weeks before the busy summer travel season.

Airlines for America, which represents the biggest carriers, says that airlines have no incentive to delay or cancel flights. The trade group blames weather and air traffic control outages for most delays.

As outlined at the White House by Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the rules would focus on cancellations and long delays caused by things such as mechanical issues with the plane or lack of a crew.

Twitter to purge inactive accounts

Twitter Inc. will purge accounts that haven’t been active for several years, and this could lead to a drop in follower counts, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted Monday.

Since taking over Twitter in October, Musk has made changes at the social network to generate much-needed revenue and fulfill his pledge to make it a haven for free speech, while also battling spam and bots that degrade the user experience. It’s been a rocky process — last month Twitter reinstated the blue tick verifying the profiles of some high-profile individuals, even some who have been dead for years.

“We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop,” Musk said in the tweet.