Yesterday on the bird site
Dec. 19th, 2022 12:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edschweppeYesterday, Elon Musk (Chief Narcissism Officer at Twitter) decided that nobody should be allowed to link (or otherwise refer) to Facebook, Instagram, or any Mastodon instance. Today, he's backed away from that decision.
The policy, originally posted at https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/social-platforms-policy, read as follows:
This morning, that policy page has been deleted (although the Internet Archive has a helpful backup). The announcement, as tweeted by the TwitterSupport account, has also been deleted (and again the Internet Archive has a backup).
That kerfluffle was the impetus for my first ever sticky post; I figure it's worth memorializing here, before he comes up with yet another unhinged idea.
The policy, originally posted at https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/social-platforms-policy, read as follows:
December 2022
Twitter is where the public conversation is happening, and where people from all over the globe come to promote their businesses, art, ideas, and more. We know that many of our users may be active on other social media platforms; however, going forward, Twitter will no longer allow free promotion of specific social media platforms on Twitter.
What is a violation of this policy?
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 linktr.ee, lnk.bio
Examples:
“follow me @username on Instagram”
“username@mastodon.social”
“check out my profile on Facebook - facebook.com/username”
Accounts that are used for the main purpose of promoting content on another social platform may be suspended. Additionally, any attempts to bypass restrictions on external links to the above prohibited social media platforms through technical or non-technical means (e.g. URL cloaking, plaintext obfuscation) is in violation of this policy. This includes, but is not limited to, spelling out “dot” for social media platforms that use “.” in the names to avoid URL creation, or sharing screenshots of your handle on a prohibited social media platform.
Example: “instagram dot com/username”
What is not a violation of this policy?
We recognize that certain social media platforms provide alternative experiences to Twitter, and allow users to post content to Twitter from these platforms. In general, any type of cross-posting to our platform is not in violation of this policy, even from the prohibited sites listed above.
Additionally, we allow paid advertisement/promotion for any of the prohibited social media platforms.
What happens if you violate this policy?
Tweet deletion and temporary account locks
If violations of this policy are an isolated incident or first offense, we may take a number of actions ranging from requiring deletion of one or more Tweets to temporarily locking account(s). Any subsequent offenses will result in permanent suspension.
Temporary suspension
If violations of this policy are included in your bio and/or account name, we will temporarily suspend your account and require changes to your profile to no longer be in violation. Subsequent violations may result in permanent suspension.
If you believe that your account was locked or suspended in error, you can submit an appeal.
This morning, that policy page has been deleted (although the Internet Archive has a helpful backup). The announcement, as tweeted by the TwitterSupport account, has also been deleted (and again the Internet Archive has a backup).
That kerfluffle was the impetus for my first ever sticky post; I figure it's worth memorializing here, before he comes up with yet another unhinged idea.