Twitter limits number of tweets people can read in a day, Elon Musk announces
Elon Musk has made an announcement stating that Twitter is now imposing restrictions on the quantity of tweets that individuals can access.
Mr. Musk, who assumed control of Twitter in October following his purchase of the platform for a staggering sum of 44 billion dollars (£35.5 billion), announced on Saturday that verified accounts will now have a daily reading restriction of 6,000 posts.
According to his statement, individuals with unverified accounts can only access and read 600 posts each day. Additionally, new unverified accounts are even more restricted, with a limit of only 300 posts per day. However, he mentioned later on that the rate limits will soon be increased to 8,000 for verified accounts, 800 for unverified accounts, and 400 for new unverified accounts.
According to the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Twitter has enforced a "temporarily restricted access" in order to tackle the severe instances of data extraction and manipulation within the platform.
However, the decision caused a strong backlash from numerous individuals, including Matt Navarra, an expert in social media and a market researcher, who expressed his disapproval to the PA news agency. He stated, "I have never witnessed a social networking site putting in such efforts to discourage users and jeopardize its own prospects for growth."
And according to Adam Leon Smith, an expert from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, which is the professional organization for IT in the UK, it is quite peculiar to impose restrictions on the amount of time users spend browsing a social network. Smith also mentioned that these limitations on scroll time will have an impact on the income generated from advertisements.
Mr. Musk has not provided a specific timeframe for when the limitations will be raised, or the duration for which the restrictions will remain in effect.
In order to combat excessive data scraping and manipulation of our system, we have implemented the following temporary restrictions.
- Confirmed profiles can only view up to 6000 posts per day. - Non-confirmed profiles are restricted to 600 posts per day. - Recently created unconfirmed profiles are solely allowed to engage with 300 posts per day.
— The tweet of Elon Musk on July 1, 2023.
In the United Kingdom, numerous individuals reported difficulties when trying to access the website starting from midday on Saturday.
#Twittercrash and Rest in Peace Twitter started becoming popular as annoyed users were confronted with an error stating "Rate limit surpassed. Kindly hold on for a while and then attempt again."
Last Friday, individuals attempting to reach Twitter were informed that they would have to sign in to an existing account in order to see tweets, which Mr. Musk referred to as a "temporary emergency action."
Following a previous incident in February, where numerous users encountered difficulties tweeting, following accounts, or accessing direct messages due to extensive technical issues, a similar occurrence has now emerged.
According to Mr. Navarra, a former digital communications consultant for the UK Government, this action taken by Elon Musk is another absurd choice that demonstrates how to squander a staggering sum of 44 billion dollars within a single year.
"I believe that it will inflict consequences on its most essential users - those who heavily rely on it, which is definitely an unconventional approach, in my opinion," he expressed.
He mentioned that individuals are eager to abandon this failing venture immediately because there are continually bizarre business choices being made each week at Twitter.
He expressed astonishment and disbelief regarding this recent policy decision or alteration to the platform. It is difficult for him to understand how this move will contribute to the revival and success of this business, making it a widely used and lucrative platform.
He expressed his surprise at the fact that he is also restricting the activity of users who have already made a payment to use the platform. He mentioned that the limit for unverified users, which is even lower, will quickly be used up. This will soon become a source of frustration and annoyance for the platform's most dedicated and frequent users to discover that their usage is restricted.
Following his acquisition of Twitter, Mr. Musk terminated roughly 80% of the company's 8,000 employees globally. He candidly acknowledged that this decision significantly impeded the platform's functionality.
He additionally supervised the elimination of outdated "blue ticks", which confirmed a user's authenticity and were substituted with a subscription service known as Twitter Blue that requires payment.
Prominent individuals and famous personalities expressed their concerns, stating that this decision exposes the platform to fake profiles and misleading information.
Customers who subscribe for a monthly fee of £9.60 or opt for an annual payment of £115.20 gain access to the verified badge and the ability to compose tweets up to a maximum of 10,000 characters.
Additional exclusive perks exclusively offered to subscribers encompass non-interchangeable token (NFT) profile images, altering previously published tweets, and encountering approximately half the number of advertisements.
In regards to the recent updates on Twitter, Mr. Smith commented: "Although data scraping might be a contributing factor, there probably exist fundamental technical issues that are causing these changes."
The supposed act of gathering data without permission might be a result of Twitter's decision to impose excessively high fees for API access. This could have subsequently created a separate market for the exchange of tweet information.
In the month of December, shortly after the acquisition, Mr. Musk sent out a tweet stating: "Once I come across an individual audacious and gullible to accept the position, I will step down as the CEO."
Following a poll created by Mr. Musk, where millions of Twitter users urged him to resign, he made a commitment to honor their request.
In the month of May, it was confirmed by Mr. Musk that Linda Yaccarino, an advertising executive from NBCUniversal, was appointed as the new CEO of Twitter.
