Hide promoted tweets, accounts and trends on Twitter

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 2, 2015
Updated • Aug 19, 2019
Companies, Internet, Twitter
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11

If you are a Twitter regular using the main website of the service as your entry point and not an app or program, you may have noticed promoted content on the site in various places.

Companies and individuals can promote contents on Twitter, for instance to display ads directly to users, to promote hash tags, or an account to increase the followers of the account and interaction with that account.

Promoted content may be displayed in various areas on Twitter. Promoted Accounts may be displayed on a user's home screen, in search results or on the Who To Follow screen.

The same is true for Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends which may also be displayed on timelines, search results and other locations including Twitter apps.

Twitter highlights promoted contents on the site so that you can distinguish it from regular content that is posted on it.

Ads on Twitter were static in the beginning but that changed when video ads become the latest craze. Video ads may play automatically on Twitter; users may turn off autoplay on Twitter to block these video ads from playing automatically.

In addition to that, these ads were static which means that most users may not be disturbed by them in the same way as they are from media ads for example. Some may be video ads, however, but these

If you don't plan to interact with any of these offers on Twitter, you may feel that they take away space on the site that could be used better otherwise.

While there is no direct way to hide promoted content on Twitter, you can install extensions to hide these elements on Twitter.

Extensions are available for Firefox and Chrome. Since other browsers support these extensions as well, they may also run in browsers such as Opera, Pale Moon or SeaMonkey.

  • Unpromote Twitter for Firefox hides promoted tweets on the Twitter timeline.
  • Bad Bird Blocker is a Firefox add-on that automates the hiding of promoted content on Twitter. It hides Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts and Promoted Trends on Twitter automatically. You may notice them for a short time after page load before they are hidden by the add-on.
  • Remove Promotions for Twitter is a Google Chrome extension that removes promoted accounts, tweets and trends on the site as well.

Both add-ons work without user interaction and do not offer any options.

It is naturally also possible to hide elements on Twitter using ad-blockers. This may be the better option if you are already running a program or extension for that purpose.

Closing Words

Twitter's advertisement is not overly intrusive and clearly labeled as such. I won't be using these tools as I don't find the ads problematic at all. Then again, I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter.

Summary
Hide promoted tweets, accounts and trends on Twitter
Article Name
Hide promoted tweets, accounts and trends on Twitter
Description
Find out how to hide promoted content such as promoted tweets, trends and accounts on the social messaging site Twitter.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on November 7, 2016 at 10:35 pm
    Reply

    ok where TF is Bad Bird Blocker??? Gone already? What’s an alternative???

  2. KephinQ said on March 3, 2015 at 6:22 pm
    Reply

    As I see it blocking promoted tweets (or ads) is the same as buying the Sunday paper and throwing out the circulars. If i don’t want to see them i shouldn’t have to. I choose what i want to read in the newspaper (I’m not looking for a house, i can ignore the Real Estate section)
    Especially if Twitter/Facebook are tracking what ads i may click on, whether intentionally or just fat fingering.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on March 3, 2015 at 6:31 pm
      Reply

      The difference is that no one tracks if you read newspaper or magazine ads, or mute your TV or switch channels if ads are shown. It does not change what businesses get from advertisers.

      On the web, you only get paid if ads are loaded and viewed.

  3. Venkat said on March 2, 2015 at 9:58 pm
    Reply

    don’t block promoted tweets. these are revenue source for twitter. on one hand, you are asking your users to donate you money, and on other hand you are killing others earning source.

    not fair….

    1. YPHRUM EEL EDAD said on May 18, 2020 at 7:10 pm
      Reply

      Boo Friggin hoo for Twitter.
      YES. BLOCK EVERYTHING YOU CAN FOR TWITTER.
      they do not deserve your respect.

    2. Doris said on January 23, 2017 at 3:03 am
      Reply

      We don’t want to harm Twitter. They might only make $50 billion next year due to me using an ad blocker.
      The poor, poor company.

    3. lomp321 said on June 1, 2016 at 5:47 am
      Reply

      oh, boohoo, poor twitter, as if they aren’t a giant conglomerate making tens of millions of dollars already. I will continue blocking thooh, boohoo, poor twitter, as if they aren’t a giant conglomerate making tens of millions of dollars already. I will continue blocking those ads, my good friend.se ads, my good friend.

    4. Lee said on January 26, 2016 at 12:07 pm
      Reply

      Dude, wise up and look at the bigger picture. Twitter is a global, democratic communication platform, built BY USER CONTENT. That’s how it was built, and always intended. Now, the fat-cats that want to profit off of that are undermining an entire societal tool, shifting the balance of global public discussion, with their own paid content and content of others they favour because they paid, for their own gain. There is NOTHING ethical or moral about playing along with that. It’s actually quite obscene.

    5. CJ said on October 12, 2015 at 10:30 pm
      Reply

      In the words of the great William Shakespear: “Tough Titties”.

    6. Martin Brinkmann said on March 2, 2015 at 10:03 pm
      Reply

      I’m reviewing software, that is it. I did review ad-blockers before even though I depend on ad revenue. It would be different if I would tell you to use the program to block ads on Twitter. I don’t.

      It comes down to the decision of the individual. Do you want this site to be here in the next year? You can do something about that. Do you want Twitter to be there? You can do something about that as well.

      I’m not condemning the use of ad blockers nor am I promoting the use on sites that you like or even depend on.

  4. B. Moore said on March 2, 2015 at 5:28 pm
    Reply

    I would think you could use adblock plus element blocker to accomplish this too.
    hmmmm i going to have to figure that out.

    Has anyone else tried using ABP?

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