Twitter Bans Link In Bio Pages & Social Media Link Aggregators [updated]
UPDATE on December 19, 2022: A few hours after announcing the new Twitter policy, Twitter seems to have reversed the decision by deleting all mentions of the “Promotion of alternative social platform policy”. The situation has been very fluid, and Twitter may change this policy again.
Original article on December 18, 2022:
On December 18th, 2022 during the World Cup final, Twitter announced their “Promotion of alternative social platform policy” (link deleted by Twitter). It is a big one and might have a major impact on creators who use link in bio page, a.k.a social media link aggregators, to promote their other social networks and products.
First, Twitter now bans “free promotion of prohibited 3rd-party social media platforms”. What this means is you can’t post links to your Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Post and Nostr page or use the username in a Tweet or your account bio.
Examples Twitter provides:
- “follow me @username on Instagram”
- “[email protected]”
- “check out my profile on Facebook – facebook.com/username”
However, the ban isn’t just for social networks…
Link In Bio or Microsite Banned from Twitter
Twitter now prohibits link in bio sites, i.e. microsites or social media link aggregators, such as Linktr.ee and Lnk.bio, both of which were specially called out in the policy.
Why is a link in bio important? Social media platforms, such as Instagram, allow users to share photos and videos, engage with others through likes and comments, and build their community. But for example, one thing Instagram doesn’t allow is for users to include a clickable link in their posts. Link in bio pages allow creators to have a single mobile optimized page that list their other social network, websites, and products. On Twitter, you’ll often see creators add their bio page in their profile website link.
If Twitter deems you have violated this policy they will delete your Tweet and temporarily lock your account, and eventually could result in permanent suspension.
This may have a lasting affect on creators who rely on their bio pages to run their business.
Ayrshare’s Link In Bio Page
Ayrshare is also affect by this policy change, specially our bio page API called Ayrlink, which allows businesses to create bio pages for their users. We now recommend for companies to not have their users post the Ayrlink bio pages on Twitter. However, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook are still great social destinations to post your bio link.
However, our social media API is not affected at all by this policy change.
