Twitter users are once again finding out that something has changed within their accounts after Twitter opted to shift everyone over to a new set of settings for Direct Messages. Now, people are finding that their default settings limit their DMs so that they can only receive message requests from people who are Verified with Twitter Blue. The option can be changed to allow message requests from everyone again, but the new default settings, unless changed, could be detrimental to those who rely on Twitter DMs for business inquiries, fielding requests, and other uses if someone doesn’t know that their settings have been altered.
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The tweet below from artist and Twitter user JCPxDESIGNS is one of several similar warnings from artists, journalists, and really anyone else who uses Twitter DMs as a tool for their work. If you head into your settings on either the web version of Twitter or in the app and navigate to the “Privacy and safety” section and then to “Direct messages,” you should see some new settings that look like the ones in the image.
By default, users now have the “Allow message requests from Verified users only” option selected. As that option suggests, this means that only those who have the Verified checkmark via Twitter Blue can send you an message if they don’t already follow you. By switching it over to “Allow message requests from everyone” or “Allow messages only from people you follow,” you can return to whatever setting you had selected before.
If you try to message someone who has not changed their settings and has the “Allow message requests from Verified users only” option selected, this is the pop-up you’ll be presented with:
Now, in fairness to Twitter, an announcement from the Twitter Support account shared on July 13th did indicate that some settings related to DMs would be changing soon. That’s largely how people knew to even check their settings yesterday and today to see what had changed, but the announcement from Twitter Support didn’t lay it out very clearly what these new options would look like and could’ve been easily looked over by those who don’t follow the account.
“Starting as soon as July 14th, we’re adding a new messages setting that should help reduce the number of spam messages in DMs. With the new setting enabled, messages from users who you follow will arrive in your primary inbox, and messages from verified users who you don’t follow will be sent to your message request inbox,” Twitter Support said previously. “Users who previously had their permissions set to allow message requests from everyone will be migrated to this new setting, but can switch back at any time.”
Anecdotally, the new DM settings did not show up at first in the mobile Twitter app until they were first altered via the web version of Twitter, so others may run into that same problem. Others have noted that their changed settings aren’t being applied properly, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with everyone.ย
