In the wake of Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the business in October, many users have been sharing links to their other social media accounts on Twitter.
According to a series of tweets the company published on Sunday, Twitter will no longer permit users to promote other social media accounts on its platform.
"We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms," the company said. "However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter."
Cross-posting from multiple platforms will still be permitted, according to Twitter, but publishing links from third-party link aggregators like linktr.ee and lnk.bio is now prohibited as well.
Users may be asked to delete their offensive tweets if they break this new rule. According to Twitter, accounts may potentially be briefly locked or suspended. Accounts that attempt to circumvent the regulations by publishing screenshots of their other accounts or writing out terms like "dot" will be removed by the company.
Due to recent revisions to its guidelines on "doxxing," which the company defines as "sharing someone's private information online without their permission," Twitter implemented a number of contentious bans earlier in the week.
The revised policy prevents users from revealing their current location, home addresses, contact information, or physical location. Many journalists who have been covering Musk and his companies have had their accounts suspended as a result of the changes.
Musk accused the journalists who were suspended of disclosing confidential information about his activities.
Many of the private jet flight-tracking accounts set up by 20-year-old Jack Sweeney, which followed Musk's travel activities, have also been suspended.
Musk has been vociferous on Twitter about his attempts to safeguard free expression. He said in early November that he was such an ardent supporter of free speech that he would not prohibit Sweeney's account from following his jet, which he called a "direct personal safety risk."
Sweeney's accounts, including his personal account, were still suspended as of Sunday.
The accounts of several of the journalists who had been suspended were reinstated on Saturday, but Linette Lopez of Business Insider is still on suspension.
Late Saturday night, Twitter also banned Taylor Lorenz of The Washington Post; but, as of Sunday afternoon, her account has been restored. Despite the fact that Lorenz had recently uploaded a post containing links to her other social media accounts, Musk claimed in a tweet that she was temporarily removed due to a "prior doxxing action."
Twitter has always been shaped by its users, not by its operators, according to Digital Democracy's Howard, but the platform's latest modifications will have an impact on what it becomes in the future.
"The emergent behavior we see in reaction to the past week of changes will shape what Twitter will be in 2023, and to whom," he said.
