Twitter Is Now Waging War On Copypastas

Twitter has announced that it will now be limiting the visibility of copypasta tweets, meaning that spamming pastas in replies to your favorite streamer tweets won't probably net you as many likes as it used to. Memes using the same caption are probably safe — as long as you are adding something new to them.

On Tuesday, Twitter rolled out its Copypasta and Duplicate Content Policy in which the social media platform outlined changes regarding tweets containing duplicate content. This, among other things, directly affects posting copypastas — funny blocks of texts that often get spammed in comments, chats, forums and, of course, Twitter.

We’ve been continuously working to combat spammy &
duplicative content on Twitter at scale and our new Copypasta and Duplicate Content policy clarifies what constitutes a violation along with what happens when it is violated. https://t.co/qA7uhMlgRD https://t.co/W9IyKRXFcQ

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) May 10, 2022

The implemented changes will directly punish users who post Navy Seal copypasta duplicative content. This ranges from making tweets not getting recommended and getting downranked in replies, to for worst violators who use scripts or post from multiple accounts, to getting harsher punishment under Twitter's Platform Manipulation and Spam Policy."

However, not all duplicative content will get your tweets blackholed. One exception is simply retweeting a copypasta instead of making a new post, which kind of defies the whole purpose. The other is tweeting existing content but also combining it with new content, such as using the same caption with a new image. This also likely means that many copypastas which get slightly different every time, such as I Saw Flying Lotus in a Grocery Store, will survive.

Twitter has been considering curbing the spread of copypastas on the app since 2020.