Elon Musk’s New Twitter Policy: No More Links to Rival Sites

After Twitter owner Elon Musk spent the last few days suspending — and then unsuspending —journalists tasked with covering him, the social media site on Sunday unveiled a policy banning the free promotion of certain other sites.

Not only are free links to Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr prohibited, but so are those to aggregating platforms like linktr.ee and lnk.bio, according to the policy. It also considers it a violation to spell out “dot” in place of a period, as well as posting a screenshot of handles for accounts on banned platforms.

Users found to be in violation may be required to delete the relevant post if it’s an “isolated incident or first offense.” A temporarily suspended account is also on the table, with users potentially facing a permanent suspension for “subsequent violations.”

What is still allowed, the policy explains, is paid promotion of prohibited platforms. Cross-posting content to Twitter from other platforms is O.K., too.

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The decision comes two days after Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, via a tweet, brought attention to competitor site Nostr, into which he invested 14 bitcoin, or about $245,000. Since Musk took over the company in October, many users have encouraged their followers to visit their accounts on other sites, likely discouraged by how the platform welcomed back a prominent neo-Nazi and dissolved its Trust and Safety Council.

What does is say about Elon Musk’s Twitter that it’s actively trying to prevent people from learning about rival social media sites? Let’s ask noted knower of things, Elon Musk:

The acid test for any two competing socioeconomic systems is which side needs to build a wall to keep people from escaping? That’s the bad one!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2022

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