Notices on Twitter and what they mean

We may sometimes add a notice to an account or Tweet to give you more context on the actions our systems or teams may take. In some instances, this is because the behavior violates the Twitter Rules. Other times, it may be in response to a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity in a given country. Below is a range of the notices you may come across when viewing an account or Tweet. 

Notices on Tweets

Our systems and teams may add notices on Tweets to give you more context or notice before you click through. A few of the times when we may add notices on Tweets include:

Placing a Tweet behind an interstitial: We may place some forms of sensitive media like adult content or graphic violence behind an interstitial advising viewers to be aware that they will see sensitive media if they click through. (Note: you cannot click through on Twitter for iOS.) This allows us to identify potentially sensitive content that some people may not wish to see. Learn more about how to control whether you see sensitive media. 

Placing a Tweet in violation behind an interstitial: We may allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability. When this happens, we add a notice to clarify that the Tweet violates our rules, but we believe it should be left up to serve this purpose. You can read more on how we review Tweets that may be in the legitimate public interest.

Notice for a removed Tweet that violated the rules: If a Tweet was found to be in violation of our rules, and has yet to be deleted by the person who Tweeted it, we will hide it behind a notice. The account will remain locked until the Tweet is removed.

Hiding a violating Tweet while awaiting its removal: Once Twitter takes an enforcement action and the person removes their Tweet, another notice will be available for 14 days after to acknowledge its removal.

Where this notice is available:

• The details page of the Tweet in violation on Twitter for iOS and Android, and mobile.twitter.com.
• The profile page of the account in violation on Twitter for iOS and Android, and mobile.twitter.com.

Where this notice is not available:

• Areas outside of profiles and Tweet details pages, such as Home timeline, notifications, and search of any Twitter client.
• Anywhere on twitter.com.

Withholding a Tweet or account in a country: We may withhold access to certain content in a particular country if we receive a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity in that country. We also clearly indicate within the product when content has been withheld. Read more about country withheld content.

Hiding a reported Tweet: If you’ve reported a Tweet, we will hide it behind a notice and give you the choice on whether or not you want to view the content again.

Hiding a Tweet from a muted or blocked account: If you have muted or blocked an account(s) and their Tweets are shared by someone else, we’ll hide the content behind an interstitial and give you the option to click through and view it. Read more about muting and blocking accounts.

An unavailable Tweet: There are some instances when a Tweet is unavailable to view, such as a Tweet from an account you do not follow that has protected Tweets, if the account has blocked you, or if the Tweet author has marked their account as one that Tweets potentially sensitive material. Additionally, sometimes a Tweet is deleted after it has been replied to or Retweeted with comment, or the Tweet is from a now-deactivated account.

Notices on accounts

In some cases, we may add notices to accounts because of their account settings, while we wait for the account owner to update their account so it’s in compliance with our rules, or if we detect unusual activity from it. Also, we take action at the account level if we determine that a person has violated the rules in a particularly egregious way, or has repeatedly violated them even after receiving notifications from us.

Requiring media or profile edits: If an account’s profile or media content is not compliant with our policies, we may make it temporarily unavailable and require that the violator edit the media or information in their profile to comply with our rules. We also explain which policy their profile or media content has violated.

Verifying account ownership: To ensure that violators do not abuse the anonymity we offer and harass others on the platform, we may require the account owner to verify ownership with a phone number or email address. This also helps us identify violators who are operating multiple accounts for abusive purposes and take action on such accounts. Note that when an account has been locked pending completion of a challenge (such as being required to provide a phone number), it is removed from follower counts, Retweets, and likes until a phone number is provided.

Deactivated accounts: Account owners have the ability to deactivate their account at any time. When an account owner deactivates their account, the page will be rendered as unavailable.

Permanent suspension: This is our most severe enforcement action. Permanently suspending an account will remove it from view, and the violator will not be allowed to create new accounts. When we permanently suspend an account, we notify people that they have been suspended for abuse violations, and explain which policy or policies they have violated and which content was in violation.

Violators can appeal permanent suspensions if they believe we made an error. They can do this through the platform interface or by filing a report. Upon appeal, if we find that a suspension is valid, we respond to the appeal with information on the policy that the account has violated.