Twitter has announced that it will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links to them or usernames featured on them.
The platform said the move would affect content from numerous social media websites, including Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post, but would allow cross-content posting.
However, video platform TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd, was not included in the list.
It tweeted: “We recognise that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter.”
It gave examples of content that would be removed including “follow me @username on Instagram” and “check out my profile on Facebook – facebook.com/username”.
It added: “We still allow cross-posting content from any social media platform. Posting links or usernames to social media platforms not listed above are also not in violation of this policy.”
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who recently invested in Nostr, replied to the Twitter support post with one word: “Why?” In a reply to another user posting about the Nostr promotion ban, Dorsey said it “doesn’t make sense”.
Last week, Twitter disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a volunteer group formed in 2016 to advise the social media platform on site decisions.
The policy change follows other contentious decisions at Twitter since Elon Musk bought the social network in October, including sacking senior management and laying off about half of its workforce. A number of major advertisers left the platform over concerns about its direction.
Musk, 51, also suspended the accounts of several journalists after a controversy over publishing public data about the movement of his private jet. He later reinstated the accounts after criticism from government officials, advocacy groups and journalism organisations.
The billionaire, who was warned that he could face EU sanctions over his initial decision, asked Twitter users what he should do. Nearly 3.7 million people voted, 58.7% of whom said he should U-turn on the ban immediately, rather than in a week’s time.
“The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now,” he tweeted.
On Sunday, the entrepreneur tweeted photos from the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, where he watched Argentina beat France on penalties to win the men’s football World Cup.
Musk attended the game alongside Jared Kushner, a former US presidential adviser and Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Trump’s Truth Social was among the platforms named in the Twitter linking ban.
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