Twitter restricts links to Facebook, Instagram, and other rival social networks

December 19, 2022 By Monica Green

(Image Credit Google)

Twitter users will no longer be able to link to select competing social media websites, namely Facebook, Instagram, and Mastodon, which the firm identified as "prohibited platforms" on Sunday. It's the latest step by Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, to crack down on a particular speech after he closed a Twitter account following his private jet's flights last week. "We recognize that many of our users are engaged on other social media platforms; but, Twitter will no longer enable free marketing of specific platforms for social media on Twitter in the future," the firm stated in a statement. Popular platforms that have been blocked include Facebook and Instagram, as well as upstart competitors Mastodon, Tribel, Nostr, Post, and ex-president Donald Trump's Truth Social. Twitter did not justify why those seven websites were included on the blacklist but not others like Parler, TikTok, or LinkedIn. twitter

We will be removing accounts and content from Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr, and Posts that contain links or usernames. We will also deactivate accounts that were created specifically to promote other social sites. Twitter has prohibited the marketing of third-party social media link aggregators like Linktree. People can use Linktree to indicate where they can be located on various websites. Mastodon, another competitor, was previously sanctioned by Twitter when its primary account posted about the @ElonJet incident. Some people have set up new accounts on the social networking site Mastodon and invited their followers to follow them there. Attempts to circumvent restrictions, such as spelling out "instagram.com" rather than a direct website connection, are prohibited. Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post is the latest journalist to be temporarily removed from Twitter. Lorenz stated that she and another Post technology journalist were working on an article about Musk. She had attempted to contact Musk but had received no response. Following Musk's online poll, many of those profiles were reinstated. twitter

According to Rachel Lorenz of the Washington Post, her Twitter account was disabled after she posted about Elon Musk's jet-tracker account. She was not given a specific explanation for the suspension, but she stated that she did not expect it. Buzbee: Musk's argument that Twitter is a platform devoted to free speech is "undermined" by the ban. Lorenz's account had been reinstated by lunchtime Sunday, as had the tweet she believed had caused her suspension. "Post journalists should be reinstated quickly and without arbitrary restrictions," says Buzbee. Some others noticed that his post putting him at Lusail Stadium for the match's start disclosed his whereabouts in real-time. Matt Wallace, a crypto influencer, also posted about Musk, complimenting the Twitter and Tesla CEO as a man of the people and including a video of Musk shaking hands with soccer fans at the match.

By Monica Green

I am specialised in latest tech and tech discoveries.

Twitter restricts links to Facebook, Instagram, and other rival social networks

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