Twitter crackdown on mass tweeting
San Francisco: In yet another attempt to fight spam on its platform, Twitter has announced a new set of guidelines that will prohibit bots from posting mass tweets as well as prevent automated tweets.
One of the most common spam violations is the use of multiple accounts and the Twitter developer platform to artificially amplify or inflate the prominence of certain tweets.
"Twitter prohibits any attempt to use automation for the purposes of posting or disseminating spam, and such behaviour may result in enforcement action," the company said in a blog post on Thursday.
The company is making changes to TweetDeck and the Twitter API to limit the ability of users to perform coordinated actions across multiple accounts.
Users of TweetDeck will no longer be able to select multiple accounts through which to perform an action such as tweeting, retweeting, liking or following.
"These changes are an important step in ensuring we stay ahead of malicious activity targeting the crucial conversations taking place on Twitter -- including elections in the United States and around the world," said Yoel Roth who handles API Policy at Twitter.
Twitter cautioned not to simultaneously post identical or substantially similar content to multiple accounts.
"For example, your service should not permit a user to select several accounts they control from which to publish a given Tweet," the post read.
As an alternative to posting identical content, you can retweet content from one account from the other accounts you wish to share that post from.
"This should only be done from a small number of distinct accounts that you directly control. 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," Roth warned.
"If your app or service includes features which allow users to perform simultaneous actions across multiple accounts, you should make changes to bring it into compliance with this policy by March 23," Twitter said.
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Telangana CM urges Amit Shah to increase sanctioned strength of IPS officers in state
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.
The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.
"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.
Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.
He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.
Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.
The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.
Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.
He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.
