Twitter just confirmed that it will hide 'copypasta' tweets from now on and limit the visibility of tweets containing copy-pasted text without any changes from the original source. It is the first time the company has announced a definite policy for copy-pasted tweets. The term copypasta is internet slang that refers to content that has been copied from its original source and pasted in posts, eventually spreading on the internet.
Twitter said that it observed a rise in copypasta as many Twitter accounts have been copying and pasting the same text and posting it on Twitter. A built-in shortcut on the Twitter app allows users to copy texts off of posts by long-pressing on the tweets. Spotting similar behavior of copypasta may lead to limiting the visibility of a post, according to Twitter.
We’ve seen an increase in ‘copypasta,’ an attempt by many accounts to copy, paste, and Tweet the same phrase. 🍝🔁
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) August 27, 2020
When we see this behavior, we may limit the visibility of the Tweets. https://t.co/OCVudJPXPm
Twitter has not yet explained how it will limit the visibility of the posts. Generally, however, the social media company tends to overlay posts that violate its policy with a warning message, so the posts are visible only if a user chooses to manually view them. CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey did, however, mention that Twitter might begin to track the number of times a link in a post has been copy-pasted.
Copypasta is generally used for spreading viral messages, wide-scale spamming and even malicious campaigns. The behavior is also troublesome and unfair for content creators to whom the original content belongs, as it prevents them from getting the attention that they deserve in the form of likes, comments and traffic.
It is not certain how effective Twitter's new policy for copypasta will be and when it will come into effect, as the company still seems to be working on it.
