Twitter users will no longer have the right to post links to several competing social networks, Elon Musk’s platform announced on Sunday. This raises concerns after the suspension of journalists’ accounts.
Twitter users will no longer have the right to post links to several competing social networks, Elon Musk’s platform announced on Sunday. This raises concerns after the suspension of journalists’ accounts.
“Twitter no longer allows free promotion of certain social networks on Twitter,” the statement said, noting that Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr are affected, as well as “links to network aggregators social media like linktr.ee, lnk.bio”.
For example, it becomes prohibited to tweet: “Thank you for following me @Identifier on Instagram”.
Risk of account suspension
Users who violate this policy risk account suspension: “If violations of the rule remain an isolated act or a first violation, we may take a number of actions ranging from removing one or several tweets until the temporary locking of account (s)”, details Twitter.
But “any repeat offense will result in a permanent suspension”, warns the platform. Tweets are not the only ones to be affected by this new policy, since the biography and the name of the user cannot contain a link either, under penalty of temporary or even permanent suspension.
Journalist accounts deleted
Elon Musk, who recently bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars, wants to be a fervent defender of freedom of expression.
However, in recent days, he has deleted and then restored the accounts of several American journalists, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post in particular. This has caused concern in the European Union and the UN, and the Vice-President of the European Commission has even threatened him with sanctions.
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