Parody, commentary, and fan account policy

Our principles

Twitter provides a platform for its users to share and receive a wide range of ideas and content, and we greatly value and respect our users' right to expression. Our users are solely responsible for the content they publish and are often in the best position to resolve disputes amongst themselves. Because of these principles, we do not actively monitor users' content, and we do not edit or remove user content except in response to a Terms of Service violation or valid legal process.

Users are allowed to create parody, newsfeed, commentary, and fan accounts on Twitter, provided that the accounts follow the requirements below.

Requirements for parody, newsfeed, commentary, and fan accounts

Here are the requirements for marking your account. All requirements must be met in order to comply with our parody policy.

• Bio: The bio should indicate that the user is not affiliated with the account subject by stating a word such as  "parody," "fake," "fan," or "commentary," and be done so in a way that would be understood by the intended audience.
• Account name: The name should not be the exact name of the account subject without some other distinguishing word, such as "not," "fake," or "fan," and be done so in a way that would be understood by the intended audience.

Please note that your account must be fully compliant with the Twitter Rules and Terms of Service in addition to meeting these requirements.

How do I file a trademark or impersonation report?

Read more about our trademark policy here, and our impersonation policy here. For more information about filing an impersonation report, read this article.

We will review an account under our parody policy in response to an impersonation or trademark complaint. An account that complies with our parody policy may not be found to be violating our trademark or impersonation policies.  

If your report is about abusive behavior on Twitter, see this article for information on how to report it.

How are reports processed?

When we receive a valid impersonation or trademark report about an account that violates our parody policy, we temporarily suspend the account and may give the user the opportunity to come into compliance. Accounts with a history of repeated violations may be permanently suspended.

What happens if someone files a report about my account?

If someone files a report about your account and we determine it is not compliant with the parody policy, we may suspend your account.