In response to backend changes causing disruptions on Twitter, the CEO of the social media platform Elon Musk has temporarily enforced limits on post readings to prevent data scraping and system manipulation. According to the announcement, the verified accounts can now read up to 6,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts are limited to 600 posts, and new unverified accounts to just 300 posts.
In a tweet, Musk wrote: "To address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits."
The clarification came as Twitter experienced a global outage, frustrating millions of users worldwide, including those in India, who were unable to access the platform. According to the outage monitoring website 'Down Detector,' over 7,000 users reported Twitter issues.
Users vented their rage on Twitter, writing, "Someone wake up Elon and tell him his $44 billion app isn't working!" and "Me coming to Twitter to see why it says'rate limit exceeded' #TwitterDown." On Twitter, the hashtags #TwitterDown and #RateLimitExceeded trended.
Twitter also recently disabled browsing access for users without accounts on its web platform, citing the need for such drastic measures due to "extreme levels of data scraping."
Musk also claimed that numerous artificial intelligence (AI) companies, ranging from startups to major corporations, were engaging in extensive data scraping practises.
Twitter Takes Action Against Over 11 Lakh Indian Users For Policy Violations
Twitter reported that between April 26 and May 25, it banned 11,32,228 accounts in India, primarily for promoting child sexual exploitation and nonconsensual nudity. The microblogging platform, which is now led by new CEO Linda Yaccarino, also deactivated 1,843 accounts in India for promoting terrorism. Within a month, Twitter suspended a total of 11,34,071 accounts in the country.
According to Twitter's monthly report, which was released in order to comply with the new IT Rules, 2021, the platform received 518 user complaints from India during the same time period via its grievance redressal mechanisms. In addition, Twitter addressed 90 complaints about account suspensions.
"After reviewing the specifics of the situation, we overturned 25 of these account suspensions," the company stated. "The remaining reported accounts continue to be suspended." During this reporting period, Twitter also received 29 requests for general information about Twitter accounts, it said.
Regarding former CEO Jack Dorsey's claim that the Indian government threatened to ban Twitter if specific accounts were not blocked, Elon Musk stated during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States last month that a company "doesn't have a choice but to obey local governments."