Elon Musk, the renowned leader of Tesla and SpaceX, has once again catapulted Twitter into the spotlight with his latest policies. In a move that is causing buzz amongst its users, Twitter, under Musk’s direction, has unveiled a new set of rules for those attempting to use the platform without logging in. To further stir the pot, Musk has instigated a reading limit on tweets, stirring widespread reactions among the Twitter community.
As Twitter’s rival, Meta Platforms, is bracing to launch a competitor to Twitter, this change could potentially impact the social media landscape.
How Elon Musk’s Recent Decision Shapes Twitter’s Reading Boundaries
Musk is under scrutiny for a series of controversial decisions that have characterized one of Twitter’s most tumultuous periods – from massive layoffs to alienating swaths of the user base and pivoting sharply towards revenue generation.
Musk delineated the extent of the new regulations by stating that anonymous users would be capped at seeing 600 tweets daily, with “new” anonymous accounts being able to view merely 300. As debate swirls around the Twitter Blue subscription fee of $8 monthly and whether it’s mandatory for influential accounts, verified users can access up to 6,000 tweets per day.
This limit didn’t last long before Musk announced an increase, setting the daily caps for unverified users to 500, for newly unverified users to 1,000, and for verified users to an overwhelming 10,000 tweets per day.
The rollout of such restrictions, and the erratic manner in which key engineering staff were let go and then rehired, clouds the company in uncertainty.
“There’s an anticipation of significant operational disruptions within Twitter’s technological environment in the upcoming six months.”
In Musk’s campaign to push Twitter’s profitability, March brought news of a planned API restructure which would involve charging for Twitter API access. Moreover, Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino as CEO, previously of NBC Universal, aiming to mend ties with advertisers who have reined in their spending on Twitter in recent times.
Nonetheless, Musk’s stance on limiting platform access could backfire by diminishing the opportunities available to advertisers, threatening the efficacy of paid promotional content.
Short-Lived Restrictions on Twitter’s Tweet Volume
Musk has openly criticized AI firms for bulk data scraping, attributing Twitter’s temporary tweet restrictions to such practices.
“Numerous entities have been excessively harvesting Twitter’s data, leading to a point where it began to tarnish the authenticity of the user experience.”
Before this, Musk had aired concerns regarding the excessive data scrapings aimed at training AI models like ChatGPT, suggesting possible legal action against Microsoft for allegedly using Twitter data without permission— a move that followed Microsoft’s decision to exclude Twitter from its social media scheduling tools.
The future is uncertain as to how Twitter will cope with the backlash over the new reading limits. A recent technical snag caused Twitter’s web app to go into an endless request loop, with numerous user reports on a Saturday indicating that their feeds were bombarded with ‘rate limit exceeded’ messages instead of fresh tweets.
Further technical hiccups may emerge if Twitter persists in adopting makeshift remedies rather than formulating sustainable solutions to these growing pains.
