Twitter has announced that it was implementing rate limits to help prevent bot activity. The company further stated that only a small percentage of users are currently affected by the rate limiting, and it was unable to inform users about the change in advance.
This announcement comes after a statement from CEO Elon Musk on Saturday, where he mentioned that users would be restricted to viewing a specific number of posts per day due to worries about data scraping and manipulation of the system. In a blog post, Twitter clarified that the rate limits were essential to maintain the authenticity of its user base.
By implementing temporary usage limits, the company can identify and remove spam, bots, and other malicious entities from the platform. Providing advance notice of these actions would have risked allowing bad actors to adjust their behavior and evade detection.
Twitter stated that its efforts were aimed at preventing certain accounts from scraping public Twitter data to build AI models and manipulating conversations on the platform. These measures were part of the company’s broader strategy to safeguard data privacy and ensure a healthier and more authentic online environment.
Despite the rate limits and platform changes, Twitter assured its customers that the effects on advertising had been minimal. The company continued to work on resolving the restrictions, and they only affected a small percentage of users. Twitter promised to provide updates as the work progressed.
Twitter also introduced TweetDeck 2.0, an improved version aimed at mitigating the impact of rate limits on power users. However, this new version came with an unexpected twist: TweetDeck would become exclusive to verified accounts, effectively creating a paywall for the majority of users.
Announcing the update, Twitter posted:
While our work to improve Twitter will never be complete, we are all dedicated to making it a better platform for everyone. Sometimes, even if it’s just for a short while, it’s necessary to slow down in order to move forward more effectively.