Twitter Account Suspension and Lawsuits Tied to Automation Tools
Twitter account suspension
is often linked to the use of automation, and in particular, tools used for rapid growth of Twitter accounts and spamming.And as Twitter has over 140 million active users, and more than 340 million Tweets daily, it is a power to be reckoned with, and expects as much respect as Google and Facebook.
And as of the end of the first week in April 2012, Twitter has launched a lawsuit for over $700,000 against the makers of automated Twitter software, principle defendants being named as Skootle Corporation (particularly James Kester), JL4 Web Solutions (naming Jayson Yanuaria), Justin Clark (with TweetBuddy.com), and spammers James Lucero, and Garland E. Harris (for violating Twitter™s terms of service that ban users from Spam and Abuse.).
TweetAttacks has completely removed their entire website, and TweetAdder’s account has been suspended by Twitter (see http://twitter.com/tweetadder).
As was stated by Twitter in a blog post, “By shutting down tool providers, we will prevent other spammers from having these services at their disposal., and as an added measure, “our engineers launched new anti-spam measures within Twitter to more aggressively suspend a new type of @ mention spam“.
Although you may not be in immediate danger of a twitter account suspension you may want to take heed here, it could be coming….
Avoid Your Twitter Account Suspension!
TweetAddr is a popular automation tool (one I’ve used myself but not for it’s most common use – spamming), and it’s site is still up.But I would no longer recommend you buy or use it, even though I have my own affiliate link for it.
This is the one constant in internet marketing…..
…..things are constantly changing!
So we adapt and adjust, as any serious business owner learns to do.
As my own Twitter account suspension was based on the use of an application which automatically re-Tweeted another user’s affiliate link, I was able to quickly rectify the situation and rescue my account which at that time had well over 26,000 followers accumulated in a bit over 2 years.
It was a frightening and rude awakening, but I learned a lot, as you can read in that post.
And you can learn how to avoid your own twitter account suspension.
Good Practice will Save You from a Twitter Account Suspension
For now it is advisable that if you are using the automated tools in Twitter’s lawsuit to build your Twitter accounts and send out automated tweets that you stop entirely, or do so with extreme caution.As Twitter’s Automation Rules and Best Practices states, “If an application has OAuth approval, the following will be true
- You allow the application access by approving their connection, not by giving out your username and password.
- Once approved, you’ll be able to see and revoke the connection from your Applications tab.”
And although I do use it for scheduled updates, and repeatedly Tweet out the same content, the frequency has been greatly reduced as are the number of affiliate products I promote using it.
A better approach would be to write a website or blog post recommending your product, and Tweet out the link to that post or web page. This can be done with a variety of text / headlines and links (using various spinners).
If you need help setting up a blog in less than 40 minutes, this simple internet marketing blueprint will show you how.
Given a large number of Tweets that provide value, along with a widely dispersed un-matching set of product Tweets you might be o.k., but I would definitely tread with caution!
And to make money online without depending on uncontrollable services like Twitter, this DotComSecretsRoadmap is a system you really should take a quick look at, it will cost you nothing to do so!
8 Responses to “Twitter Account Suspension and Lawsuits Tied to Automation Tools”
Read below or add a comment...
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I never thought someone could get sued just by using twitter automation tools
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If you read carefully, it is not the users of the tools but the creators who are being sued. The worst that can happen to a user is an account suspension, so use with caution!
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Interesting. That’s to bad really. TweetAdder is very useful tool, I’m actually running it right now. As long as you are, or appear to be following Twitters user guidelines I don’t see any problem.
The only rule that I am violating with tweetadder is automated following and unfollowing. But I take a very non aggressive approach to this. If you use the setting right, tweetadders actions will still appear natural.
This rule isn’t new.
People have been getting accounts suspended for being careless about this sort of thing for a long time. Just use common sense about it, that’s all.
There is way to much spam on twitter, and a lot of people abuse the system. Unfortunately all of us have to pay the price for that.
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I hear you Micah, thank you for your thoughtful reply! I already had social oomph available through a friend of mine who splits an account with me, and since it (SocialOomph) was on their ‘approved’ list I’ve moved my tweets off of TweetAddr, though reluctantly…. I just didn’t want to risk it, in case they could tell these were automated and not via their API (which is one of the violations TweetAddr is guilty of). But I agree with the non-aggressive approach as the safest one (esp with following / un-following!)
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Hi Vicki.. I think a lot of people are not familiar with twitter account suspension and I am sure most people can benefit from this..
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Great info as always from you, Vicki! I was tempted to use tweetaddr again for a new twitter account… but.. it just seems to risky, even if used very conservatively. I used it in the past for following and un-following, and never more that 125 a day… Do you know of something new that I can use, that does use Twitters API?
Thank you so much for sharing such great information so generously!! You are always my “go to person”!
Best,
Denise
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Hey Denise! I didn’t even see this until today so better late than never for replies eh? Well the only thing I trust right now is Social Oomph because it does use the Twitter API, though I’m not sure how they’ve possibly changed their free service around, it’s still worth the price paying for it to keep your Twitter account safe!
Can’t wait to catch up with you again soon!
Wishing You the Best Always!
Vicki
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my account always become suspended without the reason in my knowledge,even i use th twitter very carefully but still im facing such problem after each two or three day,now m edge to leave twitter forever.
