Twitter bans cross-promotion on social media; Musk appears to reverse.
Since Musk took over the company in October, he has made a number of contentious changes, the most recent of which was the sudden change in the rules.
As a result of these changes, an increasing number of users are now urging followers to view their posts on other websites. Even his position as CEO of Twitter was put up for vote by the erratic billionaire.
He tweeted, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? Click yes or no,” and invited users to respond.
The vote was open until the early hours of Monday, and he declared, “I will abide by the results of this poll.”
According to a tweet from Twitter, “free promotion of specific social media platforms will no longer be allowed.”
The company said in a statement that it would “remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, at both the Tweet level and the account level, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs) to any of the below platforms on Twitter, or providing your handle without a URL.”
As a result, users would not be able to post something like “Follow me @username on Instagram,” according to Twitter.
Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, tweeted the word “Why” in response to the new rule.
Musk tweeted that the policy would be limited to “removing accounts only when that account’s *main* purpose is the promotion of competitors.”
Rather than taking into account particular tweets after a number of well-known accounts, including tech investor Paul Graham, were suspended as a result of the new rule.
Later, he added: “Major policy modifications will be put to a vote going forward. I apologize. won’t occur once more.”
Alterations under Musk
The action was the most recent in a long line of controversies that Musk has sparked during his brief leadership of Twitter, including firings, the reactivation of some far-right accounts, and the suspension of several journalists.
He announced the site would charge $8 per month to verify account holders’ identities shortly after taking over the platform but had to suspend the “Twitter Blue” plan after an embarrassing rash of fake accounts. Since then, it has been restarted.
On November 4, Twitter cut half of its 7,500-person workforce after Musk claimed the company was losing $4 million per day.
Along with restoring Donald Trump’s account, Musk declared that Twitter would no longer be used to counter COVID-19 misinformation.
He recently suspended the accounts of several journalists after complaining that some had leaked information about the movements of his private jet that could put his family in danger.
Most recently, he suspended the account of Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz.
Sharp criticism has been leveled at the suspension of the journalists, including from the European Union and the United Nations. Those affected would include employees of CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
The US Federal Trade Commission stated that it was “deeply concerned” about the developments at Twitter.
The suspension of Lorenz’s account, according to Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee, “further undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech.”
Some of the accounts that had been suspended had since been reactivated.
