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Elon Musk stated Saturday that Twitter customers will solely be capable of learn a sure variety of posts per day on account of “excessive ranges of information scraping” and “system manipulation” on the platform.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who’s govt chairman and CTO of Twitter, stated the boundaries are non permanent, however verified accounts will be capable of learn 8,000 posts per day, unverified accounts will be capable of learn 800 posts per day and new unverified accounts can be restricted to studying 400 posts per day.
Later within the day, Musk tweeted the boundaries could be raised once more, “Now to 10k, 1k & 0.5k.”
Musk didn’t say precisely when these restrictions can be elevated or lifted solely. He elevated the boundaries twice from the earlier charges he had set earlier Saturday afternoon.
Musk’s tweet comes as hundreds of customers reported issues as they tried to entry Twitter Saturday, marking the newest widespread outage since he acquired the social media web site late final yr.
Many customers who tried to entry or put up content material on Twitter’s web site or cellular app have been met with a “Charge restrict exceeded” or “Can not retrieve tweets” error message. As of 11 a.m. ET, greater than 7,300 folks reported points with Twitter to the web site Downdetector.
Twitter responded to CNBC’s request for remark with an automatic response. It isn’t instantly clear if the location’s outage is said to Twitter’s new limited-reading coverage.
The social media web site additionally started proscribing entry to content material that was obtainable to customers with out an account on Friday. Twitter had beforehand allowed folks to view public profiles and tweets, even when they’d not signed in, however they’re now instantly prompted with a log-in window.
Musk stated in a tweet Friday that “drastic and quick motion” was obligatory on account of “EXTREME” ranges of information scraping. He added that the restrictions could be “unlocked shortly,” however the content material remained restricted as of Saturday afternoon.
Saturday’s outage will not be the primary time Twitter has suffered technical difficulties in current months. In February, customers have been unable to put up on the location for about 90 minutes after receiving a message that learn, “You’re over the every day restrict for sending Tweets.” In March, customers have been briefly unable to click on on hyperlinks or load photos.
Different outages coincided with studies of a knowledge middle closure and large layoffs at Twitter, which Musk claimed have been obligatory for the monetary well being of the corporate.
CORRECTION: This text has been up to date to point out that Elon Musk is not CEO of Twitter. He’s CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
