As people around the world watched a thrilling FIFA World Cup final, Twitter decided to drop a bombshell and ban links promoting other social networks. The list currently includes Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr, and Post. In addition, link-in-bio tools such as Linktree and Lnk.Bio are also banned – these services are commonly used by creators and businesses alike. Essentially, you can’t post links to your other social profiles or even type your handle into a tweet.
The company owned by Elon Musk “no longer allows free promotion of certain social media platforms” on Twitter. The company said it is removing all accounts “created solely to promote other social networks”. It also plans to remove links to content from the aforementioned social platforms.
“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,” the social platform said on its policy page.
Twitter will ask you to delete tweets if you link your handles and multiple violations of this policy will result in a temporary account lockout. The company said that if you have links to any of these platforms in your bio, it will temporarily suspend your account and ask you to change your bio.
What’s interesting here is that the Musk-led company lets you post your handle if you pay for the promotion of the tweet.
Twitter suspended the account of Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz on Saturday night. Lorenz had recently deleted all of her tweets and had only three posts on her account: two promoting her other social media accounts and one asking Musk for comment on a story she’s working on with Drew Harwell, a Post co-writer. Harwell, along with reporters like Ryan Mac of the New York Times and Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, were temporarily suspended after posting about how Mastodon’s Twitter was banned for linking to the Elon Jet Mastodon account. He and other journalists were reinstated after Musk posted a poll where users could vote on the fate of the journalists.
When Lorenz posted her other social media handles and was suspended, this policy did not yet exist. At the time of publication, her account appears to have been restored.
