Elon Musk announced new limits on the number of posts Twitter users will be able to read each day in an effort to fight what he calls “extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation.” The announcement from the billionaire owner of Twitter comes just a day after the social media platform decided to make it impossible for anyone without a Twitter account to read tweets.
Musk explained that “verified” Twitter users would be limited to reading 6,000 posts per day, regular users would be limited to reading 600 posts per day and newly created accounts would be limited to reading 300 posts per day.
It should be noted that while Musk is using the term “verified,” Twitter doesn’t actually verify the identity of anyone with a blue checkmark since he took over the company back in October. Musk started charging $8 per month for anyone to be able to get a blue checkmark, a system that has seen misinformation spread more rapidly on the platform.
It’s not immediately clear how many posts the average Twitter user reads per day, but some users complained about already hitting the limits on Saturday. It appears that third-party apps and Tweetdeck are still allowing unverified users to view more than 600 posts per day, at least for now.
It’s also not clear whether this new policy has anything to do with Twitter’s recent decision to just stop paying Google for its cloud-based services. The news outlet Platformer reported on June 10 that there was a “mad dash” within Twitter to transfer data away from Google onto other providers that keep the site working. Twitter’s contract with Google reportedly expired on June 30, which was yesterday.
Musk has previously said he wanted Twitter to become a space where people spend the most “unregretted” user minutes online, a metric that’s not typically measured in the world of social media advertising.
Many Twitter users were not happy with Musk’s announcement about limiting the number of tweets any given user can read in a day.
“I scroll through about 100 posts on my timeline per minute. If he keeps this it will literally end Twitter,” one user complained.
“It’s a social media app, selling ads based on impressions and time spent on the app, that is going to make people use the app less. Unreal,” another user pointed out.
“This is nuts,” yet another user tweeted.
Media commentator Jay Rosen speculated that Twitter Blue, the official name for getting a blue checkmark at $8 per month, was under performing and this might be a way to get more subscribers.
Other users joked about Twitter giving out tweet “rations” like in a Communist dictatorship.
Some users joked about how this new move by Musk would allow them to break the “addiction” of Twitter.
“Your addiction is about to be broken. We will all be free. See you guys at the park,” one user tweeted.
Musk himself replied to that user, with “Touch grass again.”
But the decision could have a very real impact on the delivery of breaking news. As a meteorologist in Indiana explained, the state currently has an extreme weather warning, and getting out vital information will be hindered by this move. The user even shared a screenshot of himself trying to access the National Weather Service account for Indianapolis, which simply displayed a notice that reads, “rate limit exceeded.”
Musk handed the CEO position at Twitter to Linda Yaccarino in early June, though it seems the billionaire is still making many important decisions at the social media company. Yaccarino previously worked at NBC Universal and was brought on to ease the minds of advertisers, who became nervous about many of the changes Musk was making to Twitter immediately after he purchased it.
Musk fired thousands of staff and has reportedly stopped paying many of Twitter’s bills in a bid to make the company profitable. But, needless to say, that hasn’t made Twitter’s vendors and landlords very happy. After a landlord in Boulder, Colorado sued Twitter recently, Twitter’s parent company X counter-sued over its eviction.
Twitter responded to questions emailed on Saturday with a poop emoji, an automated response set up by the 52-year-old owner after purchasing the social media platform. I’ll update this article if I get any more news about how these new limits are changing the user experience.
Update, 2:55 p.m. ET: Musk just announced that the rate limit has been exceeded to 8,000 posts for verified, 800 posts for unverified and 400 for new unverified accounts.
Whatever is happening it really seems like changes are being made on the fly.
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