Thread by @conspirator0

This "account vetting guide" has been floating around Twitter on and off for a couple of years. As both a disinformation researcher and a Twitter user, I find multiple aspects of it problematic and therefore do not adhere to it.

First, the "bot detection" criteria are nonsense that will tell you nothing about whether or not a given account is automated. (All accounts are new and have few tweets at some point, plenty of humans tweet hundreds of times a day and make profuse spelling/grammar errors, etc.)

(Longer thread with more information on the detection (and misdetection) of bots, for those who are interested in more detail on the topic:

https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/1426721808502374404

)

Also problematic is the advice to avoid accounts that do not apply purity tests to their followers. This rule will cause you to shun journalists, scientists, and other experts, resulting in Twitter being a far less useful source of information. #KeepThatEchoChamberEchoing

Finally, you're not going to get permanently suspended for following nebulously-defined "bad" accounts, and scaring people into thinking they're going to get banned unless they err on the side of blocking unfamiliar accounts is neither honest nor helpful.