Why Twitter took action against parody Trump account @RealPressSecBot

Twitter suspended developer platform access to a popular bot account poking fun at President Trump, leaving its creator wondering, “Why?”

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“Well, it’s been a good run,” tweeted @RealPressSecBot creator Russel Neiss, announcing that the company had suspended the Twitter app he created which ran the account. (The account is still viewable and Neiss can still use it to manually send tweets, but the Twitter-connected app that automated the posts is no longer.)

The @RealPressSecBot parody account would take tweets from the official @RealDonaldTrump account in real time and automatically present them as a screenshot in the format of a traditional presidential statement with “The White House Office of the Press Secretary” letterhead. The account currently has more than 120,000 followers.

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President Trump’s favorite social media website is far and away Twitter. Trump loves to tweet! The company has even advertised the fact. But it doesn’t appear that the action taken against the @RealPressSecBot account has anything to do with Trump. In fact, Neiss’ attempt to keep one of his previously suspended bot accounts alive via the @RealPressSecBot account appears to be the cause for suspension.

“This account, as well as others from the same account owner, have repeatedly violated our rules related to automation,” said a Twitter spokesperson in a statement provided to Mashable. “As a result, we have suspended their access to the Twitter API, and have informed the account owner of the reasons for the suspension.”

Contrary to Twitter's statement, Neiss says he was not provided with a reason for the suspension. It's unclear if Twitter will reactivate the app that automated @RealPressSecBot's tweets.

Neiss has publicly cited problems with Twitter over his bot accounts allegedly running afoul of its rules. For example, according to Neiss, the company claimed his now-suspended @PunchHannity account, which autogenerated over-the-top descriptions of random pro wrestling moves being performed on Fox News host Sean Hannity, broke its “violent threats” policy. The @RealPressSecBot had been issued a warning from Twitter before, according to Neiss.

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It looks like the shutdown of the popular Trump bot is due to Neiss continuing his recently suspended @thatsNotIsrael account, which called out users unintentionally tweeting another country’s flag thinking it’s Israel’s, using @RealPressSecBot as a workaround.

The link to developer rules provided by Twitter in its statement explicitly state that posting automated mentions and replies “on an unsolicited basis is an abuse of the feature, and is not permitted.” The company provides a specific example — “replies to Tweets based on keyword searches” — of rule-breaking behavior. “Suspension of your app or account” is a consequence of breaking these rules, according to Twitter.

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Looking at one example tweet above, the quote tweeting of a Twitter account using an automated bot would seem to break Twitter’s rules. The company views those quote tweets as “mentions” and even shows accounts that link to a user’s tweets in that user’s “notifications” tab.

To be completely fair to Neiss, Twitter’s rules are not entirely specific. The company’s policies have also changed quite a bit and been arbitrarily enforced over the years -- even when it comes to Trump’s own rule-breaking.

Anyway, Neiss has already moved on, creating an app to generate your very own (fake!) Trump statement ala @RealPressSecBot, presidential letterhead and all.

UPDATE: Aug. 27, 2019, 5:51 p.m. EDT Russel Neiss, the creator of @RealPressSecBot, reached out to Mashable to point out the section of Twitter's developer rules that allow quote tweeting.

The company's policy states "provided you comply with all other rules, you may Retweet or Quote Tweet in an automated manner for entertainment, informational, or novelty purposes."

However, a source familiar with the situation specifically pointed out the area, as previously quoted in the article above, in which the @RealPressSecBot violated the platform's policy:

"Automating these actions to reach many users on an unsolicited basis is an abuse of the feature, and is not permitted. For example, sending automated replies to Tweets based on keyword searches alone is not permitted."

It remains unconfirmed what specific @RealPressSecBot activity breached Twitter's developer rules.