May 12, 2022 – Twitter has announced that it is limiting the visibility of duplicative or “copypasta” tweets in updated security policy to help users find credible and authentic information as well as to promote what the company has called a “healthy public discourse”.
According to an official statement released on May 10, copycat tweets can look like a “block of text, image or combination of text”. Copypasta refers to the content duplicated from an original source and circulated across the platform by any means. Besides being a tactic for propagating a message, copypasta is used for a range of purposes.
It can be spammy, repetitive, and disruptive to the user’s experience on Twitter. Such content can also be used to suppress information, influence conversations, manipulate Twitter trends or amplify content artificially.
We’ve been continuously working to combat spammy &
duplicative content on Twitter at scale and our new Copypasta and Duplicate Content policy clarifies what constitutes a violation along with what happens when it is violated. https://t.co/qA7uhMlgRD https://t.co/W9IyKRXFcQ— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) May 10, 2022
If your tweets have limited access, they may not be eligible for amplification in Top Search results and Trends. They will not be recommended in timelines of users who do not follow the author. The tweets may also be downranked in replies and excluded from email and in-product recommendations.
However, for those who follow the original author, the copypasta tweets will remain visible. Twitter stated that an individual duplicative tweet would not lead to suspension or expulsion. Duplicative content being promoted through bots or other accounts found to be only circulating copypasta and repetitive copypasta tweets could result in a ban from the platform.
Potential violations can be reported by clicking on the “report tweet” button and labelling the tweet as “suspicious or spam”. Additional details as to how the post is spreading spam can also be provided. Appeal is allowed for users who think they have been wrongly suspended.
