Following all the mess happening to Twitter after the company was acquired by Elon Musk, Apple Fellow and former Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller has deleted his account on the platform. However, those who still want updates from Schiller can now follow him on Mastodon.
Phil Schiller now has an official account on Mastodon
As noted by Mastodon users, someone claiming to be Phil Schiller has appeared on the social network recently. However, since Mastodon has no verified badges, it was difficult to know if the account actually belonged to Schiller. But now, 9to5Mac has confirmed with Schiller himself that his Mastodon account is official.
Blogger John Gruber (who has strong connections with top Apple executives) had also confirmed on his own that Schiller’s Mastodon account is official.
Although Schiller never confirmed the reasons why he deleted his Twitter account, it happened the same week that Elon Musk criticized Apple by implying that the company had stopped running advertisements on the social network. The new Twitter owner also said at the time that Apple hates free speech. Musk later met with Tim Cook at Apple Park, where Musk claims to have had a great conversation with the Apple CEO.
Twitter announced last week that it has officially banned developers from using the social network’s API to create third-party clients that replace the Twitter app or website. Due to the announcement, apps like Twitterrific and Tweetbot have been officially discontinued. The main reason could be the fact that these apps don’t show ads to users, therefore they hurt Twitter’s ads revenue.
Interestingly, one of Phil Schiller’s first posts on Mastodon was to promote Ivory – a new third-party client for Mastodon created by the Tweetbot developers.
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(Update December 19, 2022, 8:40 AM IST): Twitter has deleted the tweets announcing the policy that prohibited people from posting handles and links to other social networks. The company has also silently removed the policy page that detailed these rules. Meanwhile, the Twitter Safety account started a poll asking users if the company should form a policy on accounts used just to promote other social networks.
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
After Twitter made the policy change, it received a lot of criticism. In a reply to a user, Musk specified that the policy will be adjusted to suspend accounts whose only purpose is to promote other social networks. However, Twitter hasn’t made any official announcements related to this.
The original story follows
While people around the globe were watching a thrilling FIFA World Cup final, Twitter decided to drop a bombshell and banned links promoting other social networks. The list currently includes Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr, and Post. Plus, link-in-bio tools like Linktree and Lnk.Bio are also banned — these services are commonly used by both creators and businesses. Essentially, you can’t post links to your other social profiles or even type out your handle in a tweet.
The Elon Musk-owned company “no longer allows free promotion of certain social media platforms” on Twitter. The company said that it is removing all accounts “created solely for the purpose of promoting other social networks.” It also plans to remove links to content from above mentioned social platforms.
Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames for the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) December 18, 2022
“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 social platform said on its policy page.
Twitter will ask you to delete tweets if you link out your handles and multiple violations of this policy will result in a temporary account lock. The company said if you have links to any of these platforms in your bio, it will temporarily suspend your account and ask you to change your bio.
What’s interesting here is that the Musk-led company will let you post your handle if you pay for the tweet’s promotion.
On Saturday night, Twitter suspended the account of Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz. Lorenz had recently deleted all of her tweets and only had three posts on her account: two promoting her other social media accounts, and one asking Musk for comment on a story she is working on with Drew Harwell, a fellow Post writer. Harwell, along with reporters like the New York Times’ Ryan Mac and CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, was temporarily suspended after posting about how Mastodon’s Twitter was banned for linking to the Elon Jet Mastodon account. He and other journalists were reinstated after Musk posted a poll for users to vote on the journalists’ fate.
When Lorenz posted her other social media handles and was suspended, this policy did not yet exist. At the time of publication, her account appears to have been reinstated.
Dec 18 (Reuters) – Twitter on Sunday said that it will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames.
The move would impact content from social media platforms like Meta Platforms’ (META.O) Facebook and Instagram, along with Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post while allowing cross-content posting, Twitter support said in a tweet.
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who recently invested in social media platform Nostr, replied to the Twitter support post with one word: “Why?”. In a reply to another user posting about the Nostr promotion ban, Dorsey said, “doesn’t make sense”.
Short video-platform TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd, was not included in the list.
Last week, Twitter disbanded its Trust and Safety Council, a volunteer group formed in 2016 to advise the social media platform on site decisions.
The policy change follows other chaotic actions at Twitter since Elon Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), bought the social network. He fired top management and laid off about half of its workforce, while seesawing on how much to charge for Twitter’s subscription service Twitter Blue.
Musk also suspended the accounts of several journalists over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire’s plane.
Musk reinstated the accounts after criticism from government officials, advocacy groups and journalism organizations from several parts of the globe on Friday, with some saying the microblogging platform was jeopardizing press freedom.
Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
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