Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said that the company will change its latest free promotion policy which prohibits users from advertising links to third-party platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Tibel, and others.
During the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Sunday, December 18, the microblogging service launched the controversial new policy to prevent users from diverting their followers to Mastodon, a free and open-source software to run self-hosted social networking services and Twitter-like microblogging features.
Mastodon is one of the prohibited social media networks on Twitter. The policy reads:
At both the Tweet level and the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs) to any of the below platforms on Twitter, or providing your handle without a URL:
Prohibited platforms:
- Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr
- 3rd-party social media link aggregators such as linkte.ee, Ink.bio
Examples:
- “Follow me @username on Instagram”
- “username@mastondon.social”
- “check out my profile on Facebook – facebook.com/username”
Twitter to only ban spam accounts that only promote competitors
When the CEO of Box, Aaron Levie objected to the new policy, Musk asked him what should the policy be. A news and content organization @TheQuartering took the opportunity to suggest that the accounts with the sole purpose to promote other accounts should be banned, not all accounts because not all links are added to compete with Twitter. And Musk agreed.
Hey @elonmusk. I get accounts whose SOLE purpose to promote other accounts being forbidden but telling people they can't link out to their instagram is way too far.
The same goes for linktree. I use mine to link to my website, my coffee biz etc. Not to compete with twitter.
— TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) December 18, 2022
Cybersecurity expert, Edward Snowdon also showed support for the new policy. However, it is unclear when will the compete update the policy.
Thank you.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 18, 2022
In his short stint as CEO of the microblogging service, Musk has introduced several new changes like the paywalled verification checkmark behind Twitter Blue for $11 per month, removed labels for iOS, Android, and web, and began the revival of the Vine app. The company is set to increase the tweet character limit from 280 to 4,000.
Read More:
- Instagram adds new “Notes” feature for sharing text, emojis, groups and more
- This is how to add songs to your Instagram photos, easily
- Third-party Instagram app, “OG App” has been removed from the App Store, here’s why
- Facebook Messenger app for macOS is finally Apple Silicon native
- Meta uncovers 400 malicious apps on App Store and Play Store that have stolen login info of Facebook users
