Twitter is undergoing changes that are shaking up users and the internet in general. Limitations that didn't exist before will start to exist. And among these limitations is the number of posts (or tweets, as we call them on the social network) we can post or even view per day.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently announced temporary restrictions on the number of posts users can read each day. The mogul decided to impose a limit of 600 posts per day for unverified accounts, but later increased that limit to 1,000. Initially, new and unverified accounts were limited to 300 posts per day. However, Musk reconsidered and announced that the limit would be 500. As for verified accounts, they are allowed to view up to 10,000 posts every 24 hours.
What's going on with Twitter?
After receiving heavy criticism from the public, Elon Musk revealed that he will increase the daily limit for reading posts on the platform. Now, unverified accounts will be able to access up to a thousand tweets per day, an increase of 400 compared to the amount initially established.
A few hours later, the billionaire responded to the criticism in an ironic way. Referring to the tweet in which he announced the new restrictions, Musk declared: “In yet another exercise in irony, this post has reached a record number of views!”
Additionally, he shared a tweet from a user calling himself an “Elon Musk parody” in which he claimed that Twitter users are addicted to the platform and that the goal was to encourage them to disconnect from their screens. The tweet read: “I’m doing a good deed for the world here.”
After the changes made by Musk, the limitations were as follows:
- Verified accounts: up to 10,000 posts per day;
- Unverified accounts: up to 1,000 posts per day;
- New unverified accounts: up to 500 posts per day.
In addition, Musk also states that this is a temporary restriction, and that it aims to deal with the “extreme levels” of data extraction on Twitter.
A day earlier, on Friday (30), the platform began blocking public tweets from users not connected to the social network, in an additional measure to prevent the collection of user information.
After the announcement of the view limit, the billionaire's name quickly became the most discussed topic on the platform. Second, the expression “RIP Twitter” (rest in peace, Twitter in English) appeared, with users lamenting the decision and declaring the end of the social network.
Some former Twitter executives also criticized the decision. Esther Crawford, who served as director of product management until Musk fired her in February, wrote on Sunday: “Arrogance + no pushback – customer empathy – data = a great way to set billions on fire.”
Twitter's future at stake?
Monetization has been a central focus for Twitter under Elon Musk. The company unveiled a new pricing structure for using its API and launched a paid verification program called Twitter Blue. Linda Yaccarino, a former advertising executive at NBC Universal, has been named Twitter’s new CEO, with the goal of rebuilding relationships with advertisers.
Twitter’s financial health has become less transparent since Musk’s acquisition. But Yaccarino’s hiring highlights the importance of advertising revenue to the platform. The restrictions on access appear to conflict with that goal, suggesting that Musk’s vision for Twitter may be at odds with the traditional needs of the business.
Twitter’s stability has been an ongoing concern. Despite Elon Musk’s blaming of companies that collect data for AI training, that hasn’t stopped him from laying off more than half of Twitter’s staff. These layoffs have resulted in a shortage of essential staff to maintain the infrastructure, which has raised concerns about potential stability issues on the platform.
Indeed, Twitter’s infrastructure has already shown signs of strain. In March, a major outage occurred due to a change made by a single engineer. Additionally, Twitter’s Google Cloud account was in default for months, revealing a plan to cut costs to drastically reduce infrastructure costs.
