Twitter advises users to take a break and introduces a new policy restricting daily tweet consumption.
In a recent development, Twitter has implemented measures that prevent non-logged-in users from accessing tweets, profiles, and other related information. However, the platform’s latest decision has raised concerns among users as Elon Musk announces a limit on the number of tweets that can be viewed per day.
Update 11:45 am PT: In response to the criticism, Elon Musk has revised the limits as follows:
- Verified accounts can now read up to 8000 posts per day.
- Unverified accounts have a limit of 800 posts per day.
- New unverified accounts are restricted to 400 posts per day.
Musk shared this update on Twitter on Saturday morning, but those who have already reached their daily limit might not be able to view the announcement. According to Musk, these changes are temporary and aim to address issues related to excessive data scraping and system manipulation.
Here are the updated limits:
- Verified accounts: Up to 6000 posts per day.
- Unverified accounts: Limited to 600 posts per day.
- New unverified accounts: Restricted to 300 posts per day.
Interestingly, Twitter Blue subscribers, who pay $8 per month, will be able to read ten times the number of posts per day compared to non-subscribers.
The recent actions taken by Elon Musk regarding Twitter’s operations have raised doubts about his understanding of running a social network. The imposed limits are expected to have a significant impact on user experience, engagement, and subsequently, advertising revenue.
Furthermore, the lack of prior announcement regarding this change, coupled with users experiencing difficulties accessing tweets, led to the perception that the platform was temporarily offline. Musk’s announcement came hours after users started complaining about the issue.
Moreover, there is a lack of clarity about what constitutes “reading” a post. Does briefly scrolling through the timeline without actively engaging with every tweet count as reading? As it stands, it appears that any tweet passed during scrolling is considered as “read.”
To summarize, a large number of Twitter users will encounter restrictions on their ability to read tweets at some point during the day. Ironically, they won’t be able to view Elon’s announcement since new tweets will not load after reaching the limit.