Musk's Tweet Limits Plunge Twitter into Weekend Chaos
Twitter owner Elon Musk triggers widespread disruption by imposing strict daily view limits on users to combat data scraping. The confusing, constantly shifting restrictions frustrate users and break external tweet embeds.
Twitter experiences a chaotic weekend after owner and CTO Elon Musk implements strict daily limits on how many tweets users can view. Musk claims the drastic measure is necessary to combat extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation by AI companies. Initially, unverified users face a 600-tweet daily cap, new accounts get 400, and verified users receive 6,000.
The restrictions cause immediate confusion and frustration as Musk rapidly adjusts the numbers multiple times throughout the day. The limits eventually fluctuate to allow verified accounts 10,000 views, unverified accounts 1,000, and new accounts 500, leaving users unsure of the actual rules. Twitter refuses to clarify the current status of these limits, responding to press inquiries with only a poop emoji.
This move follows another recent change that blocks non-logged-in users from viewing tweets entirely, which accidentally breaks embedded tweets across the internet. Musk blames AI companies for aggressively scraping Twitter's valuable data to train large language models without paying, though his technical decisions continue to disrupt the platform's stability.