Twitter reverses policy to bar hyperlinks from various other platforms

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Dec 2022 14:19

Twitter has reversed policy made 24 hours ago following lots of criticism.

Twitter reverses controversial policy and deletes Tweets pertaining to its announcement altogether (Reuters)

Twitter reversed a contentious new policy that prohibited hyperlinks to various other social networking sites on Sunday evening, less than 24 hours after it was introduced.

Twitter announced on Sunday it was banning users from posting links to their accounts on other social media platforms, the latest move by the company and its controversial owner Elon Musk.

"At both the Tweet level and the account level, we will remove any free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms, such as linking out (i.e. using URLs) to any of the below platforms on Twitter, or providing your handle without a URL," Twitter said in a statement on its website.

Following an outpouring of criticism, Twitter removed the blog post that detailed which competing sites users would be barred from tweeting links to, including Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Truth Social.

According to CNN, Twitter also removed a tweet thread from its @TwitterSupport account earlier in the day that outlined the policy.

Another corporate Twitter account, @TwitterSafety, is now holding a poll to see if the platform should "have a policy preventing the creation of or use of existing accounts for the main purpose of advertising other social media platforms." The poll will close on Monday at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

Should Musk remain Twitter's CEO?

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has launched a Twitter poll asking users if he should resign from his Chief position at Twitter. "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll," Musk tweeted on Sunday.

By midnight, over 2.5 million people participated in the poll, with more than 57% being in favor of Musk’s resignation.