Twitter users complain of timelines being overrun with ‘Promoted Tweets’

Twitter’s timeline is currently overrun with ads for some users, in what appears to be a glitch involving the distribution of Promoted Tweets. Typically, a Promoted Tweet — which is just a regular tweet an advertiser has paid to promote more broadly — will appear just once at the top of a user’s timeline, then scroll through the timeline like any other tweet. Now, however, Promoted Tweets are popping up with increased frequency. Some users report seeing them as often as every four to six tweets, in fact. Others are reporting seeing the same Promoted Tweet more than once.

This indicates some sort of issue with Twitter’s ad system, as the company intends for Promoted Tweets to be targeted and relevant to the end user, without being an overly frequent part of users’ timelines.

As Twitter’s Business website explains, “we’re thoughtful in how we display Promoted Tweets, and are conservative about the number of Promoted Tweets that people see in a single day.”

That’s obviously not the case when it seems like nearly every other tweet is now an ad — and often, a repeated ad.

There’s something wrong with seeing 4 advertisements/promoted tweets in a row

— PGrey (@PatrickGreyGilb) December 7, 2020

Dude Twitter has the worst user experience right now. My timeline is literally all promoted tweets and broken pieces of conversations I don’t care about. It’s actually so rare to see original tweets from people you actually follow. What’s even the point?

— Pyro Gaming (@PyroGamingThe) December 7, 2020

Wassup @Twitter .. in need of money? .. like 3 out of 10 tweets in my timeline are promoted tweets

— HBBP (@HBBP) December 7, 2020

Anyone else seeing a massive increase in promoted tweets on their feed? I've probably muted 50 or 60 in the last day.

— Andrew | Bossk (@OverlordBossk) December 7, 2020

suddenly tons of promoted tweets everywhere nnnnnnnnnnnnngh

— Al Murray – DKMS.ORG.UK (@almurray) December 7, 2020

why are there SO many promoted tweets on my tl .. ?!

— ' (@93void) December 7, 2020

its the time where my tl is flooded with promoted tweets again

— ayu◡̈ (@sunyushine) December 7, 2020

Twitter has not yet publicly addressed the bug through its @TwitterSupport account, or others that communicate with the public, like @Twitter, @TwitterComms or @TwitterMktg, so it’s been unclear how many users are impacted, on which platforms or in which geographic regions. However, we’ve seen complaints coming from users both in the U.S. and abroad and on both the “Home” and “Recent Tweets” timelines.

Given the lack of updates and information, some Twitter users have been dealing with the influx of Promoted Tweets by muting or blocking the advertiser’s account. That could have lasting consequences, as advertisers won’t be able to again reach those users if they get blocked.

Twitter, reached for comment, says it’s looking into the issue. We’ll update when the company has more to share.

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