Twitter prohibits the promotion of accounts on other social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Truth Social

The platform announced Sunday that Twitter will no longer allow users to promote their accounts on at least seven other major social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social.

the new policy It comes after many users began posting links to their accounts on other sites after Elon Musk’s takeover of the CEO position of Twitter and the subsequent restoration of the platform to far-right accounts, the suspension of journalists and mass layoffs during his reign.

“We realize 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,” Twitter Support chirp Sunday.

“Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames to the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post,” the post said. I continued.

The policy will also block third-party link aggregators, including linktr.ee and lnk.bio advertiseradding that it will also seek to remove users who attempt to circumvent the rules by spelling out the word “point” and sharing screenshots of their handles on banned platforms, among other means of getting around the restrictions.

Twitter’s rule changes left some major social media platforms behind, most notably TikTok. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, according to insiders and critics of the company. Musk has been increasingly called out for his warm relationship with China since he took over Twitter.

Reddit, Twitch, Telegram, WhatsApp, WeChat, Weibo, and right-wing platforms Parler and Gab are also exempt from the new policy.

Twitter announced the change during Sunday’s World Cup Final, which Musk attended and tweeted about. It was in the picture He sits next to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, who founded Truth Social, which was part of the rule change.

The new rules add to what has been a particularly chaotic stretch for the company and its new owner, as Twitter has suspended and reinstated some journalists over the past few days after a sudden rule change targeting posting about private jet flights.

The policy represents Twitter’s most significant change under Musk and is among the social media platforms’ most expansive in how they restrict what users can post. Other social media companies have few, if any, rules about the links users post to their accounts on other platforms.

The rule could come under government scrutiny including from the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees companies’ potential anti-competitive actions, and the European Union, which has rules about how tech companies can compete with each other.

The platform said that first-time offenders of the new rule may be asked to delete tweets or their accounts may be locked, and “any subsequent violations will result in a permanent suspension.” Users who violate the policy by linking or mentioning other social media accounts in their bio or account names will have their accounts temporarily suspended and they will be required to remove tags to reinstate them.

The new rule will still allow users to submit cross-platform content from other sites, as well as links or usernames to social media sites that are not subject to the ban, the company said. He said. Users who believe their account has been suspended or locked by mistake appealTwitter added.

Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey questioned the move, responds to the corporate subject explaining the new policy with a “why?” In another tweet, he He said Politics “doesn’t make sense”.

Others in the tech industry have also criticized the move. Aaron Levy, CEO of cloud storage company Box chirp, “It’s just sad.” Benedict Evans, London-based technical analyst, chirp that the move was “absolutely pathetic”.

Alex Stamos, director of the Stanford Internet Observatory and former chief security officer at Facebook, Call The new policy is “the clearest declaration of vulnerability I have ever seen from a major American technology platform, and a transparent declaration of anti-competitive intent.”

Paul Graham, a well-followed venture capitalist, said the rule change prompted him to leave the platform. “This is the last straw.” chirp With a link to his Mastodon account. “give up.”

Taylor Lorenz, a technology and online culture columnist for The Washington Post, who was suspended from Twitter Saturday night after she tweeted at Musk asking for comment on a story and has since been reinstated, told NBC News that she “can’t imagine a worse politics if you You want content creators to come to your site.”

“People don’t want to be jailed, and that’s what Musk does,” she added. “He locks the doors and tries to keep people in.”

Lorenz previously had the tweet pinned to her profile promoting her accounts on other sites, including some that are now banned. But once it was brought back, which is when the company announced the new policy, she deleted this tweet, she said.

Musk didn’t address the change Sunday afternoon, but several users were scrolling past tweets from him that apparently served to criticize the new policy.

Most notably, one of his tweets from June Read: “The acid test for any two competing socio-economic systems is which side needs to build a wall to keep people from escaping? That’s the bad thing!”

This is a developing story. . Please check back for updates