Spamming on Twitter

A MAYDAY follower has raised the question of what kind of unsolicited tweet sending violates Twitter's terms of service. I would like to know more about this too. Below are emails I sent to Twitter last year to try to get clarification, but did not get a response. If anyone knows anything with certainty about this, please pass along the information to me.

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 10:04 AM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I have a question about clicking on "reply" buttons of tweets. 

Are tweets that have been sent to me treated differently from tweets that have been sent to someone else? 

I would think they should be treated differently. I can understand a policy and limitation against excessive clicking on "reply" for tweets that have not been sent to me. On the other hand, if a tweet has been sent to me, I think there should never be a problem if I reply to the tweet.

Please give me guidance. I am going to be clicking on "reply" for tweets that have been sent to me, and the replies to these tweets that have been sent to me are going to be the same or similar.

Please don't suspend me. Please give me guidance.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck

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From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 7:49 AM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I sent a lot of directed tweets over the weekend and I continue to desire guidance about what I can and  cannot do. Please, please give me more guidance to keep from another account suspension.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

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From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 4:21 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

Please be advised I have resumed sending "directed tweets."  Please, please give me guidance about this, and please don't suspend my account again without giving me the opportunity to follow the Twitter rules, with guidance from Twitter.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck

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From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 5:08 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

In #al06, I have used the reply button on three additional tweets.

Please, please give me guidance as soon as you can. Twitter is extremely important to me in my campaign, and a further suspension will be very detrimental to me.

Please, please, I don't want to commit violations which will result in a further supsension.

Thank you.

Rob Shattuck 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 4:55 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

On the #al06 hashtag, I have clicked the "reply" button on two tweets that were not sent to me and sent tweets.

Please give me more clarification about what is considered egregious. 

Please keep in mind that #al06 is for the AL 6th Congressional district, in which I am conducting my political campaign.

Please, please give me guidance.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 5:41 PM
Subject: Fwd: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I am following up on my question I emailed to you yesterday, because I want to make sure I understand my account suspension, and avoid further violations which result in permanent suspension.

I am using my Twitter account for carrying out my political campaign in the Alabama 6th Congressional district and making related political communications at the national level.

I appreciate widespread concerns about abuse of social media, including abuse of email, Twitter and Facebook. 

Also, I appreciate that many users of social media have very adverse reactions to unsolicited communications which they receive.

At the same time, many persons are willing to accept that unsolicited communications, particularly political communications, have an important role in the society.  That some social media users may strenuously complain about receiving unsolicited communications should probably not be a justification for prohibiting any unsolicited communications from being sent using social media.

Unsolicited political communications come in various forms. 

TV, radio and U.S. mail are types of unsolicited communications that are made to viewers, listeners and mail recipients. 

Unsolicited political communications are given exemptions from "do not call" and "unsubscribe" rules and limitations that are applicable to unsolicited telephone calls and unsolicited emails.

I have no funding in my political campaign, and TV, radio and U.S>  mail advertising are not available to me for making unsolicited communications to voters and others. 

In my campaign I am using unsolicited emails and unsolicited tweeting to communicate to voters and others.

Such is the reason for my below question about whether sending a directed tweet to a person by clicking on the "tweet to" box on the person's account is a prohibited "mention" under Twitter's rules.

Generally, it is important for me to understand how much unsolicited tweeting I can do.

So please let me know:  Is a directed tweet a prohibited "mention" under Twitter's rules?  How much unsolicited tweeting can I do without violating Twitter's rules?

I would appreciate as much specific guidance as Twitter can give me here.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Rob Shattuck

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From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: Case# 06750523: Account suspension - ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref
To: Twitter Support <support@twitter.com>

I have a question. 

If I send a directed tweet to a person by clicking on the "tweet to" box on the person's account, is that considered a "mention?"

Thank you.

On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 1:30 PM, Twitter Support <support@twitter.com> wrote:

Hello, This account was suspended for sending multiple unsolicited @replies or mentions. Twitter monitors the use of these features to make sure they're not abused. Using either feature to post messages to other users in an unsolicited or egregious manner is considered an abuse of its use, which results in account suspension. You can find more information about @replies and mentions here: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14023-what-are-replies-and-mentions I have now unsuspended your account. Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal. Be sure to review the Twitter Rules, as repeat violations may result in permanent suspension: http://twitter.com/rules Thanks, Twitter Support http://support.twitter.com @Support System Reference: ref:00DA0000000K0A8.500G000000WYrrZ:ref