Twitter abruptly bans all links to Instagram, Mastodon, and other competitors

Twitter will no longer allow users to promote their presence on certain social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr, and Post. Twitter says it will take action against users that violate this policy “at both the Tweet level and the account level.” This means users can no longer include links to their profiles on other social networks in their Twitter bio, nor can they send out tweets directing users to check out their Instagram or Facebook accounts. The policy doesn’t just include links from other platforms, either; it even extends to posting usernames or handles from competing platforms without URLs. Additionally, users can no longer tweet out posts from banned platforms unless it’s a cross-post, meaning the same post has to be shared to both the competing site and Twitter. Twitter may also suspend accounts “used for the main purpose of promoting content on another social platform,” and will no longer allow users to link to third-party link aggregators, like Linktree or Lnk.bio.