burner account

noun

plural burner accounts

: an often temporary social media account that is created for the purpose of remaining anonymous

Due to the anonymous nature of burner accounts, most of their content heads right to the digital abyss.

—Alex Reimer

One NBA fan going by the name of kevinfan7 tweeted right after the game that Kevin Durant could not have done anything in Game 4 against the Celtics, as it was effectively a 1-on-5 game at that point. Many fans looked at the post and the profile it was coming from and suggested that it was Kevin Durant using a new burner account to defend himself against criticism, something he has been caught doing in the past.

—Aaditya Krishnamurthy

Examples of burner account in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Durant, who loves to clap back online and has a history of using burner accounts, jumped into the conversation on X at 5 a.m. Paris time. —Jenna West, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024

And there is Kevin Durant, who has a history of starting burner accounts to defend his honor against strangers on the Internet. —Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2024

What's wrong with a good old-fashioned burner account? —Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 28 Feb. 2024

Blackwood created other phony characters and texted Aron through online burner accounts from a fictional former boyfriend as well as a fake Vanity Fair journalist. —Kate Gibson, CBS News, 12 Oct. 2023

This isn’t the first time the league has investigated a burner account. —oregonlive, 27 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

2011, in the meaning defined above