Links in direct messages on Twitter

You may have found over the last couple of weeks that you have been unable to send any of your friends a Twitter direct message that contains a link. You probably thought it was a fault that would put itself right sooner or later - but it isn't a fault, it's a policy change. And it's been done to protect US.

I'm sure at one time or another you've received a direct message from a friend saying something like "I read this nasty thing about you" "I saw you in a video" or "The quick way to lose weight" - and containing a link. If you were sensible, you realised that their account had been hacked and ignored the message. You may, unfortunately, have clicked on the link and as a result your own account may have been compromised and started sending out similar messages, and you will have had the hassle of changing passwords, deleting messages, removing apps and apologising to friends.

So Twitter has decided to try to put a stop to this hacking and spamming by blocking us from sending ANY direct messages that contain links. (Could this mean the end of True Twit authentication? - I hope so!). You'll find that a few are still slipping through the net, but for the most part if you try to send a DM containing a link you'll get an error message, or your message will just sit there refusing to go.

Inconvenient? It can be, but if Twitter is doing something about the hackers who use innocent people's accounts to generate their spam, then it's well worth putting up with.