Twitter locking/suspending accounts? Data mining?

[AndreFuture]

Has anyone else dealt with this? I knew about Twitter locking lots of outspoken POC and left-leaning white handles (while scammers, money launderers, and literal Nazis proliferate), but now it seems they're going after sex workers and sex-positive folks, too. Just yesterday I was reading about Twitter marking some sex-positive accounts as spam/phishing. This afternoon I tried to log in and see my account has been locked.

 

If anyone follows me on Twitter (@AndreFutureFTM), you'll know that I mostly retweet hot videos, relevant current events (like the loathsome, anti-trans bill HB2792) and random things going on in my life. But according to Twitter, my account "appears to have exhibited automated behavior" that violates their rules. I don't use any automated features with my account, and can't find any behavior that violated any of their rules as listed.

 

Now, they want me to give them my phone number in order to unlock my account, because this allegedly helps me to "continue safely using Twitter." I obviously have a number I use with my work, but I find it extremely frustrating that they're using this ploy to get it from me (which, they ominously note "we will associate this phone number with your account). And if I do give them my number, who's to say they won't lock it again and demand additional information to compile into my user profile?

 

Does anyone else have similar experiences? I'm strongly leaning towards moving away from that platform, given how unsafe they make it for already marginalized people. I definitely don't gain any business from it, so I wouldn't lose out in that regard, but it's convenient for connecting with other industry workers and supporters.

[+ José Soplanucas]

I am sorry to hear that, [uSER=12528]@FTM_Twink[/uSER] . So far I am having lots of fun in Twitter, mostly lots of porn. I am also tweeting everyday my blog's posts (as you noticed, thanks for all your Likes), which may be mistaken as an automated behavior, without any consequences so far.

[AndreFuture]

Yes, I've enjoyed your tweets so far I hope they don't target you.

[AndreFuture]

Update: I replied to their silly email, asserting I did nothing wrong, and they unlocked my account. They claim my account must have got caught by their automated system looking for spam accounts.

 

It seems they need to rework their system because they are not getting any of the actual spam accounts I run across daily. Seems to work great against actual users, though!

[Mocha]

It probably has something to do with them wanting a registered phone number in order to rule out an account having any possibility of automated "stuff".