Twitter U-Turns On Controversial Rule Banning Links To Other Social Networks
Earlier this week, Twitter plunged into chaos when Chief Twit Elon Musk announced the platform would prohibit users from sharing links to other social media networks, with the threat of suspending accounts attempting to direct traffic to competitors.
Now, following the backlash, the site has rescinded its controversial policy, less than 24 hours after it was initially introduced. At the same time, a poll on the fate of Musk’s future as Twitter CEO concluded, with 57.5% of over 17 million respondents in favor of him stepping down.
According to CNN, the blog post outlining the policy’s requirements—which banned users from including links to rival sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Mastodon—has since been removed from the platform’s page.
Should we have a policy preventing the creation of or use of existing accounts for the main purpose of advertising other social media platforms?
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) December 19, 2022
Instead, @TwitterSafety started a new poll to quiz users on 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 final results, with over 300,000 votes, indicated that 87% said no.
As it stands, it’s still unclear if Twitter will reinforce the same policy, abandon it completely, or tweak it based on users’ feedback. It also remains to be seen if Musk will abide by the results of his own poll and step down from the platform’s helm.
“Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it,” the billionaire had tweeted ominously.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
[via CNN and Marca, cover image via Ekinyalgin | Dreamstime.com]
