Twitter Bans Links to Rival Platforms Like Facebook and Mastodon
Twitter prohibits users from posting links to several rival social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and Mastodon. The new policy also bans workarounds and link aggregators as part of Elon Musk's ongoing crackdown on certain platform content.
Twitter blocks users from sharing links to several rival social media platforms, officially banning specific sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Mastodon. The company states that it no longer allows the free promotion of these prohibited networks on its service. This blacklist also includes smaller rivals such as Tribel, Nostr, Post, and Truth Social.
The new policy goes beyond simple URLs and explicitly forbids any attempts to bypass the restriction. Users cannot spell out website names like "instagram dot com" or direct followers to link aggregators like Linktree to find their profiles on other platforms. These strict rules follow recent actions against Mastodon, which experienced rapid growth as an alternative to Twitter.
This link ban represents the latest effort by new owner Elon Musk to control content on the platform. It follows his permanent suspension of the @ElonJet flight-tracking account and the subsequent suspensions of several journalists who covered the controversy. Musk accuses these accounts of sharing location information that he describes as "assassination coordinates."