Twitter implements daily viewing limits for all users, and controversy arises over the access restrictions

In a controversial announcement, Elon Musk has recently revealed a new daily limitations for X users in response to reports of users encountering the "Rate limit exceeded" error message. Musk has blamed AI startups and big tech companies such as Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini or ChatGPT. for data scraping, leading to the implementation of paywalls on reading tweets.

The limitations include restricted reading capabilities for all users. Unverified users (old non-blue subscribers) are now limited to reading only 600 posts per day, while new unverified accounts (new users) can only read 300 posts per day. Verified users (premium blue subscribers) are limited to 6,000 post views. However, even these blue subscribers with a higher limit have complained about reaching their daily limit extremely quickly, especially when using tools like X Pro. Musk has already announced two increases in these limits for each type of user at the time of this news publication (10k, 1k, and 0.5k respectively), however, no further details or timeline have been provided regarding the implementation of these changes or whether they will be permanent.

There have been thousands of reports of Twitter outages since the announcement, and users without verified status or a Twitter Blue subscription have experienced difficulty accessing Twitter, particularly on mobile devices. It is also important to note that Twitter recently implemented a requirement for users to sign in to view tweets, and the company has been implementing various monetization strategies for Twitter, including API charges. In moments like these, many users look beyond the fence for other alternatives to the service, such as the popular Mastodon, or the recently buzzing options like Hive Social or Bluesky. Additionally, it seems that Meta/Instagram is planning to launch its own competitor to Twitter in the near future, although this has not been officially announced yet.

Our take: While uncertainty remains regarding the duration and temporality of this measure, it is worrisome to witness the renowned platform, which once facilitated rapid and constant interactions between diverse individuals, gradually embracing significant paywalls that contradict its original vision and contributed to its popularity. The discontent is widespread, and it remains to be seen whether it will result in mass exodus from the service. But hey! the good thing is you can always find us on Mastodon ;)