On Saturday, Twitter users received the shock of a lifetime when Twitter showed a Rate Limit error to many. As account holders began panicking, the first question that came to mind was, ‘Is Twitter shutting down?’
It is a legitimate concern given the unpredictable nature of Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk. Complaints rolled in in thousands, with no one to explain what had happened. Of course, the next concern was another bug affecting the platform.
Surprisingly, this time around, it wasn’t a bug but rather Elon Musk experimenting with the site. So what was going on? Is Twitter back to normal yet? Read on to know more.
Why Was Twitter Not Working? Why Is Elon Musk Limiting Twitter?
Thousands of users received a Rate Limit error on Saturday as Elon Musk applied a limit to the number of tweets a user can read daily. According to the Twitter CEO, the move was undertaken to “address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation..”
Twitter already has a reduced number of staff, and on Saturday, they had to address the new limit while dealing with complaints. Musk tweeted that Twitter was being manipulated by AI firms, so a fix was necessary.
Musk changed the tweet viewing limits thrice in a day. Five hours into the crash, Musk tweeted that verified accounts could read 6000 posts per day while unverified accounts could only read 300 per day.
Soon after, he tweeted that the limit had been increased to 8000 and 800 for verified and unverified users. Once again, after a couple of hours, the new rate was 10000 for verified and 1000 for unverified.
Amid the ongoing crisis, Elon tweeted, “Oh, the irony of hitting view limits due to complaining about view limits.” Let’s say this was not perceived lightly when everyone was already agitated.
Needless to say, putting a limit on social media was not a move appreciated by many. To this, a user pointed out, “Irony of limiting social media so nobody can be social on media.”
To make matters even worse, the CEO then tweeted this:
Hate tweets against Musk reached a significant high, as this boomer-like text was not received well.
Is Twitter Back to Normal Again?
Yes, Twitter is back online after the outrage faced on Saturday. However, users are still unsure if the rate limits still apply.
Thousands of reports flooded in from agitated customers who suddenly learned of a rate limit on the number of tweets viewed. The problem was not made any better by CEO Elon Musk as he advised users to touch down grass and communicate with others instead of using social media.
Many users have also speculated that the rate limit is an elaborate plan to push casual users toward receiving a blue checkmark. Those with a Twitter verified account can view ten times more tweets than unverified users.
However, to become a verified user, you must go through several steps, including a paid subscription to Twitter Blue. The pricing of Twitter Blue starts at $8/month or $84/year.
Is the data scraping report by Elon just an excuse to push users toward a paid subscription? If so, many users might migrate to other similar social media sites.
How do you think having a rate limit will affect casual Twitter users? Did you also receive the same error text as thousands of other account holders?
Tell us in the comments below.
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