With new reading restrictions on the short message service Twitter, owner Elon Musk has caused a wave of criticism and guesswork about the background. Musk surprisingly announced that users can temporarily only read a certain number of posts per day.
Against system manipulation
Previously, many users had reported problems with the platform. According to Musk, different rules apply to different user groups: users with verified accounts can still read 6,000 posts per day on Twitter until further notice. For those with unverified accounts, there are only up to 600 posts per day. New unverified accounts only have access to a maximum of 300 posts. The read restrictions are necessary, Musk wrote, to counteract an “extreme level of data skimming and system manipulation”. He didn’t explain what he meant by that.
In the past, however, he had expressed his displeasure that many companies tapped Twitter data to train artificial intelligence, for example.
Many users criticized the procedure because they could no longer access the content shared on the platform as usual. “Frequency Limit Exceeded,” read an often-shared screenshot of those who had hit their limit. The hashtag îRIPTwitter, which can be translated as “rest in peace, Twitter”, spread in German-speaking countries.
More posts for verified accounts
Some said they would turn their backs on Twitter should restrictions remain in place. Musk reacted and announced in another post on Twitter that he wanted to increase the limit soon. Users of verified accounts could then read up to 8000 posts per day instead of 6000, those with unverified accounts 800 instead of 600. New unverified accounts would then have access to a maximum of 400 instead of 300 posts.
Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion last October. This was followed by a slump in advertising revenue, and he now relies more on subscription revenue. The subscription costs EUR 9.52 per month for one user. Companies and organizations should pay a monthly basic fee of 950 euros plus 50 euros for each linked account for a golden yellow verification symbol.
haz/AL (rtr, dpa, afp)
Source: DW
