CANADA'S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION : DEFINITION OF SPAM : TWITTER RULES : EXAMPLE OF BREACH :
- mutually interacting accounts – operating multiple accounts that interact with one another in order to inflate or manipulate the prominence of specific Tweets or accounts; and
- coordination – creating multiple accounts to post duplicative content or create fake engagement, including:
- posting identical or substantially similar Tweets or hashtags from multiple accounts you operate"
- I Can Post Same Message THREE TIMES At The SAME TWITTER ACCOUNT Within The RULES
- I Cannot Post The Same Message Again For SEVERAL HOURS - TIME NOT DEFINED
- I Chose To Send "SIMILAR" Tweet @ Different Accounts Within One Hour ... Each Time To A Different Destination
Current Twitter limits
The current technical limits for accounts are:
- Direct Messages (daily): The limit is 1,000 messages sent per day.
- Tweets: 2,400 per day. The daily update limit is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals. Retweets are counted as Tweets.
Platform manipulation and spam policy
Overview
September 2020
You may not use Twitter’s services in
a manner intended to artificially amplify or suppress information or engage in
behavior that manipulates or disrupts people’s experience on Twitter.
We want Twitter to be a place where people can make
human connections, find reliable information, and express themselves freely and
safely. To make that possible, we do not allow spam or other types of platform
manipulation. We define platform manipulation as using Twitter to engage in
bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity that misleads others and/or disrupts
their experience.
Platform manipulation can take many forms and our
rules are intended to address a wide range of prohibited behavior, including:
- commercially-motivated spam,
that typically aims to drive traffic or attention from a conversation on
Twitter to accounts, websites, products, services, or initiatives;
- inauthentic engagements,
that attempt to make accounts or content appear more popular or active
than they are;
- coordinated activity, that
attempts to artificially influence conversations through the use of
multiple accounts, fake accounts, automation and/or scripting; and
- coordinated harmful activity
that encourages or promotes behavior which violates the Twitter Rules.
What is in violation of this policy?
Under this policy we prohibit a range of behaviors
in the following areas:
Accounts and
identity
You can’t mislead others on Twitter
by operating fake accounts. This includes using misleading account
information to engage in spamming, abusive, or disruptive behavior. Some of the
factors that we take into consideration include:
- use of stock or stolen
profile photos, particularly those depicting other people;
- use of stolen or copied
profile bios; and
- use of intentionally
misleading profile information, including profile location.
You can’t artificially amplify or
disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts or by coordinating
with others to violate the Twitter Rules. This includes:
- overlapping accounts –
operating multiple accounts with overlapping use cases, such as identical
or similar personas or substantially similar content;
- mutually interacting
accounts – operating multiple accounts that interact with one another in
order to inflate or manipulate the prominence of specific Tweets or
accounts; and
- coordination – creating
multiple accounts to post duplicative content or create fake engagement,
including:
- posting identical or
substantially similar Tweets or hashtags from multiple accounts you
operate;
- engaging (Retweets, Likes,
mentions, Twitter Poll votes) repeatedly with the same Tweets or accounts
from multiple accounts that you operate;
- coordinating with or
compensating others to engage in artificial engagement or amplification,
even if the people involved use only one account; and
- coordinating with others to
engage in or promote violations of the Twitter Rules, including
violations of our abusive behavior policy.
Engagement and metrics
You can’t artificially inflate your
own or others’ followers or engagement. This includes:
- selling/purchasing Tweet or
account metric inflation – selling or purchasing followers or engagements
(Retweets, Likes, mentions, Twitter Poll votes);
- apps – using or promoting
third-party services or apps that claim to add followers or add
engagements to Tweets;
- reciprocal inflation –
trading or coordinating to exchange follows or Tweet engagements
(including but not limited to participation in “follow trains,” “decks,”
and “Retweet for Retweet” behavior); and
- account transfers or sales –
selling, purchasing, trading, or offering the sale, purchase, or trade of
Twitter accounts, usernames, or temporary access to Twitter accounts.
Misuse of Twitter product features
You can’t misuse Twitter product
features to disrupt others’ experience. This includes:
Tweets and Direct Messages
- sending bulk, aggressive,
high-volume unsolicited replies, mentions, or Direct Messages;
- posting and deleting the
same content repeatedly;
- repeatedly posting identical
or nearly identical Tweets, or repeatedly sending identical Direct
Messages; and
- repeatedly posting Tweets or
sending Direct Messages consisting of links shared without commentary, so
that this comprises the bulk of your Tweet/Direct Message activity.
Following
- “follow churn” – following
and then unfollowing large numbers of accounts in an effort to inflate
one’s own follower count;
- indiscriminate following –
following and/or unfollowing a large number of unrelated accounts in a
short time period, particularly by automated means; and
- duplicating another
account’s followers, particularly using automation.
Engagement
- aggressively or
automatically engaging with Tweets to drive traffic or attention to
accounts, websites, products, services, or initiatives.
- aggressively adding users to
Lists or Moments.
Hashtags
- using a trending or popular
hashtag with an intent to subvert or manipulate a conversation or to drive
traffic or attention to accounts, websites, products, services, or
initiatives; and
- Tweeting with excessive,
unrelated hashtags in a single Tweet or across multiple Tweets.
URLs
- publishing or linking to
malicious content intended to damage or disrupt another person’s browser
(malware) or computer or to compromise a person’s privacy (phishing);
and
- posting misleading or
deceptive links; e.g., affiliate links and clickjacking links.
What is not a violation of this policy?
The following are not in violation of this policy:
- using Twitter pseudonymously
or as a parody, commentary, or fan
account;
- posting links without
commentary occasionally;
- coordinating with others to
express ideas, viewpoints, support, or opposition towards a cause,
provided such behavior does not result in violations of the Twitter Rules;
and
- operating multiple accounts
with distinct identities, purposes, or use cases. These accounts may
interact with one another, provided they don’t violate other rules. Some
examples include:
- organizations with related
but separate chapters or branches, such as a business with multiple
locations;
- operating a personal
account in addition to pseudonymous accounts or accounts associated with
your hobbies or initiatives; and
- hobby/artistic bots.
Who can report violations of this policy?
Anyone can report accounts or Tweets via our
dedicated reporting flow. These reports are used in aggregate to help refine
our enforcement systems and identify new and emerging trends and patterns of
behavior.
How can I report
violations of this policy?
In-app
You can report this content in-app as follows:
1. Select Report
Tweet from the icon.
2. Select It's
suspicious or spam.
3. Select the option
that best tells us how the Tweet is suspicious or spreading spam.
4. Submit your report.
Desktop
You can report this content via desktop as follows:
1. Select Report
Tweet from the icon.
2. Select It's
suspicious or spam.
3. Select the option
that best tells us how the Tweet is suspicious or spreading spam.
4. Submit your report.
Report form
You can also report this content this content for
review via our spam reporting form by
selecting the I want to report spam on Twitter option.
What happens if you
violate this policy?
The consequences for violating this policy depend
on the severity of the violation as well as any previous history of violations.
Our action is also informed by the type of spammy activity that we have
identified. The actions we take may include the following:
Anti-spam challenges
When we detect suspicious levels of activity,
accounts may be locked and prompted to provide additional information (e.g., a
phone number) or to solve a reCAPTCHA.
Denylisting URLs
We denylist or provide warnings about URLs we
believe to be unsafe. Read more about unsafe links, including
how to appeal if we’ve falsely identified your URL as unsafe.
Tweet deletion and temporary account
locks
- If the platform manipulation
or spam offense is an isolated incident or first offense, we may take a
number of actions ranging from requiring deletion of one of more Tweets to
temporarily locking account(s). Any subsequent platform manipulation
offenses will result in permanent suspension.
- In the case of a violation
centering around the use of multiple accounts, you may be asked to choose
one account to keep. The remaining accounts will be permanently suspended.
- If we believe you may be in
violation of our fake accounts policy, we may require you provide
government-issued identification (such as a driver’s license or passport)
in order to reinstate your account.
Permanent suspension
For severe violations, accounts will be permanently
suspended at first detection. Examples of severe violations include:
- operating accounts where the
majority of behavior is in violation of the policies described above;
- using any of the tactics
described on this page to undermine the integrity of elections;
- buying/selling accounts;
- creating accounts to replace
or mimic a suspended account; and
- operating accounts that
Twitter is able to reliably attribute to entities known to violate
the Twitter Rules.
If you believe that your account was locked or
suspended in error, you can submit an appeal.
Additional
resources
Learn more about our automation rules for
developers, our election integrity efforts,
our financial scam policy, our hacked materials policy,
our approach to coordinated harmful activity,
and our guidelines for promotions and
contests.
Learn more about
our range of enforcement options and
our approach to policy development and enforcement.
