Elon Musk Imposes Twitter Rate Limits, Sparks Frustration Among Users
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of Twitter, recently implemented severe rate limits on the social media platform, restricting the number of tweets that users can view in a day. Musk cited “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation” as the reason behind these “temporary limits.”
Initially, Musk announced that verified accounts could read 6,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts were limited to 600 posts daily. New unverified accounts had an even lower limit of 300 posts. However, on Saturday, Musk raised the rate limits to 8,000 posts per day for verified accounts, 800 for unverified accounts, and 400 for new unverified accounts.
These restrictions have triggered frustration and surprise among Twitter users. Many users suddenly received messages such as “Rate limit exceeded” or “Something went wrong. Try reloading” when attempting to access tweets. Even verified users are finding it challenging to scroll through tweets and replies before hitting the rate limits.
According to Musk, his decision to impose these limits is due to artificial intelligence firms scraping Twitter for data to train chatbots without paying. Musk claims that numerous companies, ranging from startups to major corporations, were scraping vast amounts of data from the platform. In response, Twitter has raised the prices for its application programming interface (API), which allows third parties to analyze Twitter data and build tools with it.
Since acquiring Twitter last year, Musk has taken measures to cut costs, including slashing staff. However, advertising revenue has plummeted during his tenure. Musk has attempted to make up for the loss in ad sales by increasing subscription revenue through the introduction of Twitter Blue, a premium subscription service costing $8 per month. However, the number of Twitter Blue sign-ups has not made a significant impact on the revenue gap from ad sales.
Recently, Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino, formerly the head of ad sales for NBC Universal, will be responsible for managing the platform and addressing user concerns.
As users grapple with the rate limits, some services like Tweet Deck and Hootsuite offer a workaround for now. These services allow users to create various columns for their Twitter timelines, lists, direct messages, notifications, and keyword searches, providing an alternative way to access tweets.
In the meantime, Twitter users are left wondering when these limits may be lifted. Musk has not provided any indication of when the restrictions will end, leaving users eagerly awaiting a resolution to their frustrations.