On Saturday (1/7/2023), thousands of users encountered difficulties accessing Twitter, leading to numerous complaints. The issue arose after Twitter owner Elon Musk imposed restrictions that limited most users to viewing only 600 tweets per day. Musk implemented these measures in an attempt to prevent the unauthorised scraping of valuable data from the site.
These service disruptions occurred shortly after Twitter implemented a change requiring users to log in to view tweets and profiles. Previously, anyone could access the platform without logging in. Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion last year, explained the new restrictions as a temporary solution to combat excessive data scraping, which was degrading the service for regular users.
In a tweet, Musk stated that unverified accounts would be limited to reading 600 posts per day, while verified accounts could scroll through up to 6,000 posts daily.
To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits:
– Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day
– Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day
– New unverified accounts to 300/day
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023
These restrictions have the potential to lock users out of Twitter for the remainder of the day after they have scrolled through a few hundred tweets.
The higher post limit for verified accounts is part of an $8 per month subscription service introduced by Musk earlier this year. The subscription service aims to boost Twitter’s revenue, which has declined significantly since Elon Musk acquired the company, leading to significant workforce layoffs to reduce costs and avoid bankruptcy.
What are your thoughts about this rate limit placed on Twitter? Will you subscribe to Twitter Blue to bypass the unverified account limits? Let us know in the comment box below.
