In response to widespread system manipulation and data scraping issues, Elon Musk, executive chairman of Twitter, has announced temporary post limits for users of the social media platform. The move aims to address the “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation” experienced by Twitter, which have caused disruptions and user frustrations.
Under the new limits, verified Twitter accounts will be allowed to view up to 10,000 posts per day. Unverified accounts, both existing and new, will have lower caps at 1,000 and 500 posts per day, respectively. These measures intend to control the volume of requests made to Twitter’s Application Program Interface (API) and maintain a reliable and scalable platform for users.
Recent reports from Twitter users included difficulties in accessing tweets, missing timelines, and encountering “rate limited exceeded” messages. This resulted in hashtags like #TwitterDown and #TwitterFail trending in specific regions, such as France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the East and West Coasts of the United States.
While the exact cause of the data scraping and system manipulation is unclear, Musk highlighted that the excessive pillaging of data was degrading the service for users. Some speculation points to AI chatbots with web-browsing capabilities, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, as potential contributors to the issue. Musk did not provide further details about the root cause or specific actions being taken to address it.
Despite the concerns raised, Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, defended the decision, acknowledging the challenges of managing the platform effectively. Dorsey expressed interest in exploring a more censorship-resistant open protocol, mentioning Bitcoin and Nostr as potential solutions to preserve the openness of the internet.
In unrelated news, Elon Musk has also been training for a possible mixed martial arts cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. However, this development is separate from the issue of Twitter’s post limits and system manipulation concerns.
Overall, these temporary post limits highlight the ongoing challenges faced by social media platforms in managing data scraping and maintaining user experience while also raising discussions about the need for more resilient and secure protocols for online communication.