Questions on new API restrictions

[SendibleBella]

Hi there,

We have a few questions in regards to the new API restrictions coming next month based on this article: https://blog.twitter.com/developer/en_us/topics/tips/2018/automation-and-the-use-of-multiple-accounts.html

Could someone please help answer the questions below:

1. “This should only be done from a small number of distinct accounts that you directly control.” - What’s a “small number”? 5 - 10?

2. “Please note that bulk, aggressive, or very high-volume automated Retweeting is not permitted under the Automation Rules, and may be subject to enforcement actions.” on the App or the Twitter account/s?

3. What are the action taken in case of content that is considered to violate Twitter rules ? Is it at the application level or twitter account on which the content is posted level ?

4. What is considered as “similar” content? Same shared link? Same image? Text with only a few changes or text with a similar meaning?

5. Will Twitter APIs explicitly reject content that doesn’t meet those criteria or content will still be accepted but actions will be taken afterwards?

6. What is considered “aggressive” or “very high-volume” re-tweeting ?

Thanks,

Bella

[nate2xs]

I’ve been having the same exact questions. Everything in the rules is very vague but they expect people to follow the rules. How if you’re not being fully clear?

[dha]

Hi Bella - Answers below:

1. The accounts RTing content in such circumstances should be linked in a meaningful way to the primary @handle. In most cases this would only include a few additional accounts beyond the main @handle.

2. Either or both

3. Either or both

4. Similar = content that most people would reasonably take to be similar

5. We are unable to comment on enforcement specifics. But, to avoid enforcement actions we strongly urge you not to post content you believe might run afoul of the policy.

6. Aggressive / very high volume RTing = RTing that is higher than most users would engage in given the circumstance.

[andypiper]

As a follow up here -

Yes, we do understand that for developers, any level of vagueness regarding the precise details of policy enforcements are difficult to deal with and specifically, to code responsibly for. This is one of the issues especially when talking about our adaptive posting / write limits for API actions. As a developer myself, I get that it would be far more understandable to provide direct metrics or enforcement algorithms!

The issue here is that by being completely explicit about the boundaries, the bad folks will be digging in for loopholes. However, we know that the vast majority of responsible developers and application owners also understand that the platform needs to be able to adapt to unexpected circumstances and bad actors, and we thank you for your understanding in those situations.

[SendibleBella]

Thanks for your reply and understanding @andypiper, We have now done updates to comply with the policies and I am wondering if you could confirm that a user is still able to send the same message multiple times from the same account?

Thanks