SAN FRANCISCO — Responding to reports that it has changed its Direct Messages policy, Twitter announced that it has not changed its policy, but did make a few changes to some accounts.
“Contrary to news reports, Twitter has not changed the rules for how Direct Messages (DMs) work for Verified accounts," Twitter spokesperson Matt Graves told PCMag.
"However, we have given a limited number of accounts the ability to receive DMs from accounts they don't follow, in cases where having that capability may be beneficial (for example, enabling businesses to receive account information that users may not want to post publicly)."
Graves added that the company does not have plans to make this feature more widely available at this time.
“Accounts with access to this feature must opt-in to utilize it."
As reported earlier, experts say the capability will have a negative impact by causing accounts to receive numerous unsolicited messages. While supporters say it will benefit businesses, which will be able to get messages from customers without having to follow them back.
One company has already tweeted saying it has tested the feature and said it’s already working.
Twitter said it is working on ways to perfect the feature.
“We will continue to experiment with ways of helping people and companies get more value from Twitter. As with all of our experiments, we are listening carefully to feedback on this feature and will use that feedback to continue innovating and iterating."