Authenticity

November 2024

You may not engage in inauthentic activity that undermines the integrity of X.

We want X to be a place where people have authentic experiences. To make that possible, we do not allow any activity that attempts to manipulate our platform or disrupt our services through inauthentic accounts, behaviors or content.

 

Inauthentic Accounts 

Accounts on X must be authentic. Under this policy, you may not create, operate, or mass-register accounts that are not legitimate, genuine and transparent as to their source, identity, and popularity. This includes: 

Unauthorized automation: Automated or scripted accounts that do not comply with our Developer Policy. Please note that as a user you are ultimately responsible for third-party applications you may authorize to access or use your account. 

Fake personas: You may not use manufactured identities to engage in disruptive or deceptive behavior. This may include using stock, stolen or AI-generated profile photos, copied or stolen profile bios, and/or misleading profile information for the purpose of deceiving others. 

Impersonation: You may not impersonate other identities of individuals, groups, or organizations to deceive others. Although you are not required to display your real identity on your profile, your account should not use false profile information to impersonate others. We allow compliant Parody, Commentary, and Fan (PCF) accounts on X only if the purpose is to discuss, satirize or share information. If you believe an account is posing as you or your brand, you can file a report here.

Accounts may depict another entity as long as they clearly distinguish themselves in their account name and bio. Both should clearly indicate the account is not affiliated with the subject portrayed in the profile. Accounts can indicate this by incorporating words such as, but not limited to, "parody," "fake," "fan," or "commentary.” This language should be stated in a way that can be understood by any audience and should not be contradicted by other affiliation terminology such as “official.” Please note, an account name is separate from the username (i.e. @handle).

Multiple Accounts and Coordination: We prohibit coordinated inauthentic activity that artificially influences conversations or disrupts X.

Not Allowed

Operating multiple accounts that interact with the same or substantially similar content or in order to inflate or manipulate the prominence of content and/or accounts by, for example, creating multiple accounts to:

  • “boost” trending topics or hashtags;

  • engage with the same posts, accounts, or polls;

  • misuse the mention/reply feature; and

  • amplify one of your own accounts by misusing engagement features.

Operating multiple accounts that post substantially similar or identical content to one another by, for example, cross-posting:

  • content across multiple accounts (content that is cross-posted but localized into another language is permitted); and

  • similar or duplicate content to the same trending topics or hashtags.

Employing workarounds to exceed the technical limits of account creation (e.g., account phone number limits). X allows users to create and/or operate up to ten (10) accounts for different, non-duplicative purposes.

Allowed

Operating multiple accounts with distinct identities, purposes, or use cases that comply with our technical limits of account creation (e.g. account phone number limits), such as:

  • accounts tracking when objects in space travel over a specific location on Earth, e.g. New York, Hong Kong;
  • accounts sharing news about different professional teams in the same sport or league, e.g. NFL, NBA, Premier League;
  • accounts for personal projects, hobbies/interests, or for your business(es);
  • accounts for branded entities specific to unique locations or languages, e.g. brand accounts in English, Spanish and French;
  • control multiple accounts on behalf of a third-party (e.g. “Social Media Managers”), provided that no violations of X Rules (including this policy) occurs;
  • organizations with related but separate chapters or branches, such as a business with multiple locations; and
  • operating a personal account in addition to pseudonymous accounts or accounts associated with your hobbies or initiatives.

Authentically coordinating with others to express ideas, viewpoints, support, or opposition towards a cause in a non-violative manner.

 

Ban Evasion: You may not circumvent X enforcement actions.

Not Allowed

Attempting to evade X enforcement actions by, for example:

  • creating new accounts;
  • imitating a suspended account to replace it;
  • repurposing an already-existing account; and 
  • having someone else operate an account on your behalf. 

If an account has been suspended for violations of the X Rules, X reserves the right to also suspend any other account we believe the same account holder or entity may be operating in violation of our earlier suspension, regardless of when the other account was created.

Account Compromise: The unauthorized access or modification of someone’s X account is strictly prohibited.

Account compromise may occur when: 

  • your login data (such as credentials, passwords, tokens, keys, cookies) are shared with a potential malicious third-party application or website;
  • you use a weak or reused password;
  • viruses or malware were installed on your computer to collect passwords; or
  • you logged in to your X account on a compromised network.

If unauthorized updates appear in your account, it could signify a potential compromise of your account security. Learn more about how to keep your account secure

If you suspect that your account has been compromised, you can find a guide on how to troubleshoot the issue here. In the event that the troubleshooting doesn't work, please submit a report here.

 

 

Inauthentic Behaviors

You may not engage in behaviors that manipulate X or artificially impact how content is discovered and amplified. This includes:

Content Spam: You may not share or post content in a bulk, duplicative, irrelevant or unsolicited manner that disrupts people's experience.

Not Allowed

  • Sending bulk, aggressive, high-volume unsolicited replies, mentions, or direct messages;
  • using trending or popular hashtags with an intent to subvert or manipulate a conversation or to drive traffic or attention to accounts, websites, products, services, or initiatives;
  • posting with excessive, unrelated hashtags in a single post or across multiple posts;
  • repeatedly posting or sending direct messages consisting of links shared without commentary, so that this comprises the bulk of your post/direct message activity;
  • promoting content by replying with content that is irrelevant to the topic of the original post;
  • posting and deleting the same content repeatedly;
  • repeatedly posting identical or nearly identical posts in a duplicative manner popularly known as “Copypasta”, or sending identical direct messages; 
  • deceptively editing to artificially amplify content or deceive people, by, for example, using a post's existing engagement to amplify substantially different content (e.g. editing a post from “What’s better? Pancakes or waffles?” to “Thousands of people trust my service. Like my post and subscribe to my channel to get tips on investing”); and
  • editing links (URLs) so that the final destination page has significantly changed, either in content or location (e.g. domain, URL path).

Engagement Spam: We prohibit inauthentic use of X engagement features to artificially impact traffic or disrupt people’s experience.

Not Allowed

  • Trading, buying, selling (either through monetary or virtual compensation) or soliciting access of X accounts, including the temporary or permanent transfer or sales of accounts, username or X (e.g. “pay for affiliation” schemes) products;
  • coordinating to exchange engagement in any X features, such as Likes, Polls, Replies, Reposts, Lists, Views, or Follows;
  • engaging in “follow churn” – following and then unfollowing large numbers of accounts in an effort to inflate one’s own follower count;
  • engaging in indiscriminate following – following and/or unfollowing a large number of unrelated accounts in a short time period, particularly by automated means; 
  • engaging with posts aggressively or through the use of automation to drive traffic or attention to accounts, websites, products, services, or initiatives;
  • engaging in aggressively adding users to Lists or Moments;
  • duplicating another account’s followers, particularly using automation;
  • using or promoting third-party services to perform any of the transactions described in this policy; 
  • engaging with X report features or forms, whether manually or through the use of automation, in order to submit duplicate or false reports in large numbers, including repeatedly reporting the same post(s) or accounts; and
  • coordinating and/or encouraging others to misuse X reporting features to harass others under false pretenses or hope to cause their account(s) or post(s) to be restricted or removed.

Allowed

  • Obtaining prior consent from X if you are a Law Enforcement Organizations (“LEO”) or Non-Governmental Organizations (“NGO”) to use automation to submit reports, provided you identify as such organizations, either by submitting reports through their official email domain or in the application through a verified account representing their affiliated entity.
  • manually submitting reports in good faith that you believe may violate our policies; and
  • encouraging others to engage in good faith with X reporting features for customer support queries.

Scams: You may not use X to engage in scam tactics to obtain money, property, or private information.

Not Allowed

Some examples of deceptive tactics that are prohibited under this policy include: 

  • social engineering, including relationship/trust-building schemes;
  • money-flipping schemes; 
  • fraudulent discounts; and
  • phishing scams.

Allowed

X does not intervene in financial disputes between individuals who use X, such as: 

  • claims relating to the sale of goods on X;
  • disputed refunds from individuals or brands; and 
  • complaints of poor quality goods received.
 

Inauthentic Content

You may not share inauthentic content on X that may deceive people or lead to harm. This includes:

Synthetic and Manipulated Media: You may not share inauthentic media, including, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may result in widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm (“misleading media”). We may use our own technology or receive reports through partnerships with third parties in order to determine if media have been manipulated or presented out of context. In situations where we are unable to reliably determine if it is misleading media, we may not take action.

Not Allowed

Manipulated: Media that is shared as authentic but is significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated in a way that fundamentally changes its meaning and can result in widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm, such as:

  • media that have been substantially edited or post-processed in a manner that fundamentally alters their composition, sequence, timing, or framing and distorts their meaning; 
  • media with visual or auditory information (such as new video frames, overdubbed audio, or modified subtitles) that has been added, edited, or removed that fundamentally changes the understanding, meaning, or context of the media; 
  • media created, edited, or post-processed with enhancements or use of filters that fundamentally changes the understanding, meaning, or context of the content; and
  • media depicting a real person that has been fabricated or simulated, especially through use of algorithms or broader artificial intelligence.

Out-of-context: Media that is not manipulated, but is shared in a deceptive manner or out-of-context or with intent to deceive people about the nature or origin of the content and can result in widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm, such as: 

  • media presented with false or misleading context surrounding the source, location, time, or authenticity of the media; 
  • media presented with false or misleading context surrounding the identity of the individuals or entities visually depicted in the media; and
  • media presented with misstatements or misquotations of what is being said or presented with fabricated claims of fact of what is being depicted.

Allowed

  • Sharing manipulated or out-of-context media in non-deceptive ways. 

Malicious URLs: You may not post malicious, harmful, or deceptive links on X that may cause harm. This includes posting links that may damage or disrupt another person’s browser (malware), compromise a person’s privacy (phishing), and deceptive links that redirect people to unexpected destinations or mislead people about the website’s content.

How we enforce  

The consequences for violating this policy depend on the severity of the violation as well as any previous history of violations.

The following is a list of potential enforcement options for content that violates this policy:

  • Anti-spam challenges: When we detect suspicious levels of activity, accounts may be locked and prompted to provide additional information (e.g., a phone number) or to solve a puzzle. 
  • Denylisting URLs: We denylist or provide warnings about URLs we believe to be unsafe. Read more about unsafe links, including how to appeal if we’ve falsely identified your URL as unsafe.
  • Restricting Reach: This may include excluding posts from search results, trends, and recommended notifications, removing posts from the For You and Following timelines, restricting a post's discoverability to the author’s profile, restricting likes, replies, reposts, quote posts, bookmarks, share, pin to profile, or edit post, and downranking the post in replies.  
  • Temporary loss of access to X features or products: We may temporarily limit or restrict access to X features or products, including (but not limited to) posts, Edit post, Direct Messages, Spaces, Communities, or Live.
  • Profile Modifications: If your account is potentially confusing in terms of its affiliation, including as a non-compliant parody, commentary or fan account, we may require you to edit the content on your profile. If you violate this policy again after your first warning, your account may be suspended.
  • Suspension: For severe violations, accounts will be permanently suspended at first detection. If the offense is an isolated incident or first offense, we may take a number of actions ranging from requiring deletion of one or more posts to temporarily locking account(s). In the case of a violation centering around the use of multiple accounts, you may be asked to choose one account to keep. The remaining accounts will be suspended.

How to report  

You can report inauthentic accounts, behaviors and content using our dedicated in-app reporting flow.

Appeals

If you believe we made a mistake, you can submit an appeal.