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Elon Musk announced on Saturday that Twitter will temporarily limit the number of tweets users can read per day — with separate limits for paid and unpaid users — to combat computer programs that scan through posts to extract useful data from the platform extract.
It is unclear how long the restrictions will apply and what their lifting depends on. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Verified accounts are only allowed to read 10,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts have access to 1,000 per day, according to Musk tweeted. New, unverified users who join the platform after Saturday’s announcement will only be able to access 500 posts per day. The change came after significant backlash over initial tweet limits set by the company on Saturday afternoon, which allowed 6,000 tweets from verified users, 600 tweets for unverified and 300 for new profiles.
The news follows the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s announcement on Friday that tweets could not be viewed without being logged into an account. He described this change as a temporary measure to prevent third parties from removing data from the platform. In a tweet, Musk expressed his dismay at what he described as the “extreme level of data scaping” by artificial intelligence companies. He again cited data scraping on Saturday as the reason for introducing the limit. Chatbots like ChatGPT rely on databases, most of which come from the internet.
Musk’s post didn’t describe how the change will affect Twitter features like audio conversation platform Spaces. However, following Musk’s post, many users began sharing screenshots of their Twitter home pages with the message “rate limit exceeded,” limiting their ability to view tweet replies or posts on their home feed.
Website Downdetector said user reports of Twitter malfunctions increased as of 8 a.m. EST on Saturday and continued throughout the day.
The restrictions mark the latest drastic change from Musk, who ran the social media company after buying it for $44 billion in October. Since taking office, Musk has restored many suspended accounts, including that of former President Donald Trump, and stripped public figures of their verification marks, instead offering the blue ticks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month.
A year ago, Musk asked, “Is Twitter dying?” Maybe he has his answer.
Advertisers have fled in droves, raising questions about how the company will make money. In May, amid what observers have described as a chaotic tenure, Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino, former chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, as CEO of Twitter.
Twitter’s changing user experience and frequent glitches has caused some users to switch to similar social media sites like Mastodon and Bluesky. Meta has also reportedly suggested launching its own Twitter clone.
Bluesky, a platform backed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, bears resemblance to its predecessor. The company said in a post on its platform Saturday afternoon that it would see record-breaking traffic following Musk’s announcement. The app, which is described as a decentralized social network, is currently invitation-only and has paused its logins in response to a surge in activity on Saturday.
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