Elon Musk Announces Temporary Reading Limits for all Twitter Users

 

Elon Musk recently revealed a temporary restriction on the number of tweets that users can read per day, granting verified subscribers with blue tick access to a significantly higher reading limit compared to non-verified users.

Musk claimed that the temporary daily reading limits are necessary to address “extreme levels” of data scraping and system manipulation on Twitter.

Following the announcement, hashtags like “#RIPTwitter” and “#Twitterdown” quickly gained traction on the platform as users expressed their reactions. Musk has not disclosed the duration of the temporary limits, leaving users uncertain about how long they will be in effect.

Msuk imposes temporary reading limits on Twitter

Musk, who acquired the social media platform last year, shared specific information in a tweet regarding the reading limits for different types of Twitter accounts, including verified, unverified, and new unverified accounts. In a subsequent tweet, he mentioned that the caps would be raised in the near future.

Initially, verified Twitter users were restricted to reading 6,000 posts per day, but this limit was later increased to 8,000. Unverified accounts had an initial limit of 600 posts per day, while new unverified accounts were limited to 300 posts per day. These figures were subsequently raised to 800 and 400 respectively, and then further increased to 1,000 and 500.

In a subsequent tweet, Musk quipped, “Rate limited due to reading all the posts about rate limits,” showcasing his awareness of the discussions surrounding the imposed reading restrictions.

Rate limits increasing soon to 8000 for verified, 800 for unverified & 400 for new unverified https://t.co/fuRcJLifTn

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023

Uncertainty and technical problems

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has not provided any details regarding the duration of the temporary reading limits imposed on Twitter.

Reports of issues began surfacing shortly after midday UK time, with thousands of reports flooding the problem and outage monitoring site Downdetector by 6 pm.

This incident follows a recent “temporary emergency measure” implemented by Twitter on Friday, requiring users to be logged into an account to view tweets, as acknowledged by Musk.

Back in February, a widespread technical problem caused an outage on Twitter, affecting users’ ability to tweet, follow accounts, and access direct messages.

Musk’s Acquisition of Twitter

An initial deal was struck between Musk and Twitter’s board for the former to acquire the social media company for $44 billion back in April last year. The deal was finalized in October that same year.

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” said Musk at the time.

“That’s why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love,” he added.