Twitter temporarily restricts tweets users can see, Elon Musk announces

[webfact]

Twitter has applied a temporary limit to the number of tweets users can read in a day, owner Elon Musk has said.

 

In a tweet of his own, Mr Musk said unverified accounts are now limited to reading 1,000posts a day.

 

For new unverified accounts, the number is 500. Meanwhile, accounts with "verified" status are currently limited to 10,000 posts a day.

 

By Malu Cursino & James Clayton
In London and San Francisco

 

Top file photo for reference only

 

Full story: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66077195

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2023-07-02

[Bkk Brian]

So Musk's frequently touted "world’s digital town square" has now had its meter throttled even if you are a paying blue ticker. I wonder what happens if you make a few replies to some tweets, then run out of viewing status, guess you'll have to wait till the next day to see if you had any responses....lol

[stevenl]

I'm not a twitter user, but those numbers? Limited to 10000 posts per day? I can't imagine reading thjose numbers, but maybe that's because I don't know how this works?

[Bkk Brian]

This is obviously some sort of cost cutting exercise although restricting users from views will also have a huge impact on the already dwindling advertising revenue.

 

Twitter stopped paying for its Google Cloud services some time ago, no wonder its now concerned about the data usage.

 

According to The Information's report, Twitter had ultimately continued to pay its Google Cloud bills because of the huge advertising revenue it gets from the company – but Platformer now reports that "at some point" it changed its mind and stopped paying the invoices, and was now planning to stop using the platform completely.

Platformer reported that Twitter was scrambling to move services off Google Cloud before the contract ends on June 30, but cited sources who said that this was taking longer than expected and that it was uncertain what would happen with some of the services.

For example, it's unclear whether Twitter would try to migrate Smyte to its own servers, sources told Platformer.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-stopped-paying-google-cloud-bills-money-platformer-2023-6

[ozimoron]

13 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

This is obviously some sort of cost cutting exercise although restricting users from views will also have a huge impact on the already dwindling advertising revenue.

 

Twitter stopped paying for its Google Cloud services some time ago, no wonder its now concerned about the data usage.

 

According to The Information's report, Twitter had ultimately continued to pay its Google Cloud bills because of the huge advertising revenue it gets from the company – but Platformer now reports that "at some point" it changed its mind and stopped paying the invoices, and was now planning to stop using the platform completely.

Platformer reported that Twitter was scrambling to move services off Google Cloud before the contract ends on June 30, but cited sources who said that this was taking longer than expected and that it was uncertain what would happen with some of the services.

For example, it's unclear whether Twitter would try to migrate Smyte to its own servers, sources told Platformer.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-stopped-paying-google-cloud-bills-money-platformer-2023-6

Yes, the verified sticker was an attempt at stemming the cash burn. Didn't work. This is the next idea. It won't be long before a safer alternative hits the market. Australia and the EU are slipping a spanner into the gears as we speak.

[KhunBENQ]

A necessary consequence of this throttling has not been pointed out.

No Twitter account no view.

Before it was usually possible to view content without a Twitter account.

Now without being loggedin you can see nothing.

If you sent a Twitter link to someone "anonymous" he sees a misleading "something went wrong" message. Very professional.

 

Wonder whether the Twitter image/video downloaders still work?

Tried one and it fails.

Fortunately you can easily extract links from Twitter images and they seem to work for everyone.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by KhunBENQ

[HappyExpat57]

On 7/2/2023 at 9:30 AM, stevenl said:

I'm not a twitter user, but those numbers? Limited to 10000 posts per day? I can't imagine reading thjose numbers, but maybe that's because I don't know how this works?

This article states "one thousand," not "ten thousand."

[stevenl]

37 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

This article states "one thousand," not "ten thousand."

Thanks. The article states at present the limit is the number I stated, 10000.

[heybruce]

7 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

This article states "one thousand," not "ten thousand."

 

6 hours ago, stevenl said:

Thanks. The article states at present the limit is the number I stated, 10000.

Whether it's 1000 or 10,000 that's a lot of time on twitter.  Some users need to get a life.

[bendejo]

Ah yes, the free flow of information, as expressed by the guy who paid $44 billion to ensure it.  Now he's doing what?

 

[stevenl]

7 hours ago, heybruce said:

 

Whether it's 1000 or 10,000 that's a lot of time on twitter.  Some users need to get a life.

Which was my point. How can a limit of 10000 even exist.

[Bkk Brian]

7 hours ago, heybruce said:

 

Whether it's 1000 or 10,000 that's a lot of time on twitter.  Some users need to get a life.

Its 10,000 only if you have been verified and pay I think $8 per month. I agree that seems more than enough. But 1,000 for those who do not pay can have severe limits. Its very easy to scroll through dozens of tweets in a few seconds. You don't have to actually click them to view the full message or video etc, the tweets just being viewed while scrolling counts.

 

There is an update on the BBC here regards some of the reasons he may be doing it.

 

Why is Twitter limiting how many tweets you can see?

Elon Musk tweeted that unverified users could read 1,000 tweets, and verified users 10,000 per day.

People began to share screengrabs of messages that they'd "exceeded" their daily allowance of tweets.

Elon Musk was doing something that seems unfathomable for a social media company - he was limiting user activity.

The move has baffled advertising executives.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66093324

Edited July 4, 2023 by Bkk Brian

[ballpoint]

That's rather antisocial of him.

[Bkk Brian]

Musk's actions have consequences.

 

Google Search Showing 50% Fewer Twitter URLs After Twitter Blocked Unregistered Users

On Friday afternoon, Twitter decided to block unregistered, signed-out users, from seeing public tweets. That meant that for Google's normal crawling purposes, it was unable to see some of these tweets. It seems that Google now has about 52% fewer Twitter URLs in its index today than it had on Friday, just a few days later.

https://www.seroundtable.com/twitter-google-search-drop-35648.html

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Twitter's decline: gradual, then sudden

First, Twitter set a policy requiring that web users log in to view tweets—immediately limiting the potential audience for any given post to people who have Twitter—and later, Musk announced limits to how many tweets users can consume in a day, purportedly to counter "extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation." Although these measures will supposedly be reversed, as others have been during Musk's tenure, they amount to a sledgehammering of a platform that's been quietly wasting away for months: Twitter is now literally unusable if you don't have an account, or if you do have an account and access it a lot. 

https://boingboing.net/2023/07/04/twitters-decline-gradual-then-sudden.html

[Purdey]

His company, his rules, for better or worse.

[stevenl]

All far from well at Twitter.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/15/elon-musk-says-twitter-cash-flow-remains-negative-with-heavy-debt-.html

[JonnyF]

A good move from Musk. 1000 a day is plenty. If you reach that limit maybe its time to get some fresh air and some exercise. 

[stevenl]

57 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

A good move from Musk. 1000 a day is plenty. If you reach that limit maybe its time to get some fresh air and some exercise. 

Yes, because that's why musk bought Twitter, for the well being of the customers.

[JonnyF]

15 hours ago, stevenl said:

Yes, because that's why musk bought Twitter, for the well being of the customers.

Not only the customers, but yes well spotted.

[placeholder]

23 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Not only the customers, but yes well spotted.

He cared so much that for months he tried to wriggle out of the deal.

[Bkk Brian]

Well this is hardly surprising, advertising still down and now limited views all = still less advertising revenue.

 

Musk says Twitter is losing cash because advertising is down and the company is carrying heavy debt

Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half.

In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”

“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he concluded.

https://apnews.com/article/twitter-elon-musk-debt-advertising-70f526c407d4c68107f9d1ec4b4e3151

[JonnyF]

16 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Well this is hardly surprising, advertising still down and now limited views all = still less advertising revenue.

 

Musk says Twitter is losing cash because advertising is down and the company is carrying heavy debt

Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half.

In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”

“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” he concluded.

https://apnews.com/article/twitter-elon-musk-debt-advertising-70f526c407d4c68107f9d1ec4b4e3151

Yes I must say it's great as a consumer to have less ads popping up all the time. Unlike FaceBook where it's 5 ads for every post by people I am interested in.

 

Haven't tried Threads but I guess it's the same as FB. Certainly it will be if the EU ever approves it.