Twitter is cracking down on new social platform Mastodon, preventing users from sharing links to it or putting it in their bios.
When users try to add their Mastodon accounts to their Twitter bios, it shows them an error saying the URL is malware.
There is however no evidence to support the suggestion that Mastodon contains malware – malicious software that can harm your device.
This came after Twitter suspended Mastodon’s account, and that of several prominent journalists who had reported on the company.
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Ryan Mac from the New York Times, Intercept staffer Micah Lee, Matt Binder from Mashable, writer Aaron Rupar and former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann were all among the journalists kicked off the platform by Musk.
Mastodon earlier in the day tweeted a link to an account on its own platform tracking the location of Musk’s jet, just a day after a similar account was banned from Twitter.
Musk announced new Twitter rules in a tweet on Wednesday evening following the jet tracker’s ban: “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.”
Musk responded to the bans Thursday evening by tweeting, “Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else.”
Mastodon is divided into groups, called servers, based on many topics including various countries, sports, and issues.
Mastodon said it gained hundreds of thousands of users in November, with some Twitter users seeking alternative platforms.
