Musk Says Twitter Is Limiting Number of Posts Users Can Read
On Saturday, a significant modification occurred amidst a deluge of user grievances stating that they received an error notification indicating they had crossed their allocated usage threshold.
On the first day of July in the year 2023, at precisely 7:53 in the evening, Eastern Time.
Elon Musk announced on Saturday that Twitter would implement a temporary restriction on the daily amount of posts users can view. This move aims to tackle worries related to data scraping, and it comes shortly after numerous users encountered extensive difficulties with the platform.
A lot of those individuals shared that they encountered an error notification stating that they had surpassed the predefined limit, indicating that they had breached the regulations imposed by Twitter by excessively downloading and viewing tweets.
Mr. Musk, who mentioned last Friday that numerous organizations were acquiring Twitter's data through scraping, resulting in a negative impact on the user experience, did not specify the duration of these limitations or the circumstances under which he might consider removing them.
Initially, he stated that verified accounts would be restricted to accessing 6,000 posts on a daily basis, while unverified accounts would have a limit of 600 posts, and new unverified accounts would only have the capacity to view 300 posts.
Approximately two hours later, he increased those restrictions to 8,000 for validated individuals, 800 for non-validated individuals, and 400 for newly non-validated individuals — before subsequently elevating them once more in the early evening of Saturday to 10,000, 1,000, and 500.
"Restricted access temporarily enforced as I've gone through a comprehensive investigation of all the posts regarding access restrictions," stated Mr. Musk via Twitter.
The billionaire has openly expressed his aversion towards organizations that engage in the practice of scraping Twitter, employing tweets for research purposes, or utilizing them to train artificial intelligence programs.
However, the alteration made on Saturday caused annoyance among certain individuals using the platform, as a large number of them wondered why their online actions would be significantly limited in such a way.
The expression "rate limit exceeded" became popular on Twitter, sparking humorous posts on the platform relating to individuals who were disrupted by the fresh guideline. Downdetector, a platform which monitors complaints of glitches on various websites, indicated a significant increase in user complaints about Twitter issues on Saturday.
Some other users had more practical worries, such as how the daily restrictions could impact the manner in which individuals keep track of severe weather on the platform. This often includes going through numerous updates, alerts, and warnings by scrolling through them.
James Spann, an Alabama-based meteorologist, expressed his dissatisfaction with the recent Twitter update, describing it as a complete disaster. According to him, this modification renders the platform almost useless for individuals involved in the field of weather forecasting, unless improvements are made.
I received a response from Twitter's communications department when I emailed them for comment, and they replied with a poop emoji.
Ever since Mr. Musk assumed control in October and his actions to reduce over three-quarters of the company's employees, Twitter has experienced decreased stability, with features or even the entire website occasionally experiencing unexplained disruptions.
Over the weekend, the company's engineers hastily worked to identify the issue in separate communication channels on Slack, as reported by two staff members. These individuals mentioned that Twitter's sales staff raised concerns about how to handle their advertising clients as they became aware of certain ads not appearing on the platform.
The New York Times obtained an internal presentation that revealed Twitter's advertising revenue in the United States. In the five-week period from April 1 to the first week of May, the company generated $88 million from advertising. However, this figure reflected a significant decline of 59 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to the document, the company has consistently failed to meet its estimated weekly sales targets in the United States, occasionally missing them by up to 30 percent.
Ongoing dynamic transformations happening at Twitter have been stirring up the motivation among certain users to explore other comparable social media platforms. One such platform is Mastodon, which strives to present itself as a plausible substitute for Twitter. Additionally, there is Bluesky, a social network that provides a range of fundamental functionalities similar to those offered by Twitter.
Bluesky is currently available only to those who have received an invitation, but on Saturday, the company's name was creating a buzz on Twitter.
A Twitter user seemed to have reached their limit on Saturday, posting, "I desperately need a Bluesky code, man."
Ryan Mac is a journalist who specializes in examining the ethical practices of large technology companies worldwide. He was honored with a prestigious George Polk award in 2020 for his investigative work on Facebook. Ryan is currently located in the vibrant city of Los Angeles. You can follow him on Twitter at @RMac18.
