Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will temporarily limit posts users can view daily due to extreme data scrapping.
He says that several companies use the platform’s data for developing artificial intelligence programs.
The duration of these limits and the conditions for their removal remain unclear as Musk has not provided further details or responded to requests for comment.
Read More: Twitter to tackle online child sexual abuse material
Musk’s tweet said verified accounts will be restricted to reading 10,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts will have daily access to 1,000 posts.
Newly registered unverified users will be limited to 500 posts per day.
These restrictions were made following backlash received by the initial tweet limits set by the company.
Initially, verified users were allowed 6,000 tweets, unverified users had 600, and new profiles were limited to 300.
Musk said on Friday, June 30, that tweets would only be viewable when logged into an account.
Read More: Mark Zuckerberg to take on Elon Musk in “cage fight” challenge
This change was introduced temporarily as a deterrent to prevent third parties from extracting data from the platform.
Musk expressed concern over the “extreme levels of data scraping” by artificial intelligence companies and cited data scraping as a reason for implementing the tweet limits.
AI-based chatbots, like ChatGPT, heavily rely on data from internet sources.
The impact of these changes on Twitter features, such as the audio conversation platform Spaces, was not described in Musk’s post.
However, users began sharing screenshots of their Twitter homepages displaying “rate limit exceeded,” indicating limitations on viewing tweet replies or posts on their home feed.
Need Career Advice? Get employment skills advice at all levels of your career
Website Downdetector reports show that users reported several Twitter malfunctions starting at 8 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, July 1, which persisted throughout the day.
These restrictions mark another significant change enacted by Musk since his acquisition of the social media company for $44 billion in October.
Musk reinstated many banned accounts, including that of former president Donald Trump, and altered the verification process by offering blue checkmarks to anyone willing to pay $8 per month.
The company has witnessed an exodus of advertisers, raising concerns about its revenue generation.
Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino, former chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, to address the challenges as Twitter’s CEO in May.
