Twitter attempted a new content moderation policy aiming to thwart "free promotion of certain social media platforms," within its ecosystem, according to an official blogpost which is now taken down
In a quick turn of events, the official blog post and the tweets related to this change disappeared without any trace after it received severe backlash on social media this morning
Subsequently, Elon Musk backtracked with an apology and said that there would be a vote for major policy changes moving forward.
The move could have impacted content from social media platforms like Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, along with Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post, while cross-posting content from other social media platforms remains permissible
“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 deleted post said
Meanwhile, Musk just kicked off a poll this morning asking if he should step down as the head of Twitter, which is currently not going in his favour.
NEW: Twitter has deleted all the tweets and the policy page that it published this morning informing users that they could not promote their social media accounts on other platforms. pic.twitter.com/qcaKi8TjKx
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) December 19, 2022
Chaotic week
Last week, Twitter suspended many prominent journalists that cover Elon Musk, following tweets about @ElonJet, an account that tracks Musk’s private jet.
As expected, the accounts were reinstated following a public outcry and an online poll which favoured an immediate lift of the suspensions - however, @ElonJet stays suspended.
The platform also banned the @joinmastodon account for promoting the alternative social media site.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022