Confusion at Twitter continues over Elon Musk's tweet limits

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By Shiona McCallum and Liv McMahon

Twitter seems to be experiencing ongoing confusion following Elon Musk's implementation of restrictions on the number of posts users can read daily.

The extremely wealthy individual revealed the "interim action" aimed at tackling the excessive amounts of data extraction on the platform.

Mr. Musk swiftly augmented the initial boundaries over the weekend.

After numerous users complained about not encountering any restrictions on Sundays, a few individuals mentioned receiving a notification stating "rate limit exceeded" again on the following day, Monday.

Mr Musk, who assumed control of Twitter in October 2022, had previously expressed his dissatisfaction with AI companies utilizing Twitter's data to educate their expansive language models.

Modifications to the system over the weekend resulted in an initial restriction of 600 tweets for Twitter users who lack verification and do not pay for a subscription. However, Mr. Musk stated that this limit was raised to 1,000 on Saturday night.

He hasn't given any information yet about whether the restrictions will continue.

Mr. Musk tweeted on Saturday morning in response to a user who had flagged problems with the website's functionalities. He stated that Twitter had implemented these measures due to the presence of "EXCESSIVE amounts of data extraction".

The procedure is a crucial technique for collecting content and information from online platforms. It includes retrieving data from websites, often in large quantities, in order to convert it into easily understandable formats like spreadsheets.

According to Mr Musk's tweet, nearly all AI companies, ranging from small start-ups to large multinational firms, were gathering extensive quantities of data.

It's quite frustrating to have to urgently activate numerous servers solely to support the sky-high worth of an AI startup.

Reddit's decision to charge companies for accessing its data stemmed from shared worries about the widespread utilization of platform data for training AI models.

Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, a former employee of Twitter and a data scientist, said in an interview with the BBC that it is not clear if AI companies have been gathering data from Twitter, but hinted that financial difficulties might be the reason for the modifications.

To be honest, I reckon I fall into the category of people who think that his failure to pay his bills is the reason behind it... and he's trying to cut down his expenses," she expressed.

A project management company from Australia has taken legal action against Twitter in a United States court, aiming to receive a total payment of approximately A$1m (£534,000) for outstanding invoices related to services rendered in four different nations. The details can be found in official court documents.

During the month of May, a previous public relations company initiated legal action in a New York court claiming that Twitter had not issued payment for their services. Likewise, earlier this year, advisory firm Innisfree M&A Inc, based in the United States, filed a lawsuit against Twitter, seeking approximately $1.9 million (£1.4 million) for outstanding bills accumulated while providing guidance during the company's acquisition led by Mr. Musk.

Ever since Mr. Musk acquired Twitter, his main objective has been to decrease expenses by terminating the employment of half the staff. In addition, he introduced a subscription service that provides the highly desired "verified" badge in exchange for a monthly payment.

In a platform that values interaction, restricting and reducing posts appears to be contradictory. Dr Chowdhury described it as an exceptionally radical and unprecedented strategy, which is already proving ineffective.

Twitter witnessed a mass exodus of advertisers due to concerns about Mr. Musk's stance on the enforcement of content moderation guidelines, impacting the company's earnings.

In his conversation with the BBC in April, Mr. Musk stated that the company was currently "approximately reaching a point of balance" and highlighted that the majority of its advertisers were coming back.

Ground's Impact

The restriction on tweet quantity posed a challenge for certain reporters, who rely on Twitter to gather real-time information and confirm news stories.

Bel Trew, the primary global correspondent for The Independent, posted on Twitter that restrictions on the number of tweets she could access on the platform had caused utter confusion while she was covering the news on Sunday.

Following a shooting incident that resulted in the tragic deaths of two individuals and the injury of 28 others, a journalist in Baltimore, USA, encountered difficulties accessing the tweets posted by the local police department on their Twitter account.

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Pass over the tweet by Justin Fenton

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Ignore tweet number 2 from Ben Goggin.

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The BBC contacted Twitter to seek clarification and was met with an automated response featuring a depiction of feces.

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