Twitter is implementing restrictions on the number of tweets that users can read each day, a move aimed at curbing excessive data scraping and system manipulation, according to Executive Chair Elon Musk in a recent post on the platform.
Initially, verified accounts were capped at 6,000 tweets per day. Musk indicated that unverified accounts would face a limit of 600 tweets daily, while new unverified accounts would only be able to view 300 tweets each day.
However, these limitations were subsequently adjusted, allowing verified users to read up to 10,000 tweets daily, while unverified users can now access 1,000 tweets, and new unverified accounts are capped at 500 tweets per day. Musk shared this information in a follow-up post without elaborating on the changes.
In a previous announcement, Twitter stated that users must create an account to view tweets, which Musk referred to as a “temporary emergency measure” earlier in the week.
Musk has voiced concerns about numerous organizations aggressively scraping Twitter data, claiming it negatively affects the user experience on the platform.
He has also expressed frustration with AI companies like OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, for leveraging Twitter data to develop their large language models.
On Saturday morning, Twitter experienced outages affecting thousands of users, as reported by Downdetector.com.
At the height of the disruption around 11:17 AM ET (8:47 PM IST), nearly 7,500 users reported issues accessing the app.
The platform has undertaken various initiatives to regain advertisers who left during Musk’s leadership and to enhance subscription income by integrating verification checks into the Twitter Blue program.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
