Twitter is reining in the number of tweets users can read to address “extreme levels” of data scraping and system manipulation, according to the platform’s owner Elon Musk.
In classic Musk fashion, he took to Twitter to lay out the revised usage limits. Verified users are now limited to a maximum of 6,000 posts per day, while unverified folks must contend with a significantly reduced cap of 600 tweets.
However, after facing backlash, he tweeted that the limits would be raised to 800 posts for unverified accounts and 8,000 for verified accounts before later settling on 1,000 and 10,000 tweets, respectively.
Musk claims that Twitter is grappling with “extreme levels of data scraping” from “several hundred organisations” and “system manipulation.” These new restrictions, he argues, are necessary to tackle these pressing problems. However, he hasn’t disclosed the identities of the data scrapers or the duration of the problem, nor has he provided further details on the system manipulation allegation.
This isn’t the first time the billionaire has voiced concerns about data scraping on Twitter, even threatening legal action against offenders. In the past, Musk alleged that Microsoft illegally used the platform’s data to train its artificial intelligence model.
This curb also comes in response to numerous users’ complaints over the weekend about Twitter failing to display recent tweets in their feeds. Instead, they were greeted with the frustrating “rate limit exceeded” error.
Since acquiring Twitter for a whopping $44 billion in October last year, Musk had made some drastic and controversial moves. One of the most notable moves was a massive 80 percent reduction in the company’s workforce, which includes employees dedicated to combatting harmful and illegal content, safeguarding election integrity, and promoting accurate information on the platform. He also introduced several changes in the platform such as a payment system exclusively for the coveted “blue ticks” or verified accounts.
In a rather bold statement made in December, a mere few weeks after the acquisition, he tweeted, “I will step down as CEO once I find someone foolish enough to take on the job.”
In May, the appointment of Linda Yaccarino, previously an executive at NBCUniversal, as Twitter’s new CEO was announced. Meanwhile, the 52-year-old Musk gracefully took on the role of executive chairman.
