On Saturday, Twitter owner Elon Musk made a series of announcements regarding new rules on the social media platform, setting “temporary limits” on the number of posts that can be read per day.
Initially, Musk revealed that verified accounts would be restricted to reading 6,000 posts per day, while unverified accounts would be limited to 600 posts per day. Furthermore, new unverified accounts were subject to a limit of 300 posts per day, as stated by Musk.
However, just two hours after the initial announcement, Musk took to Twitter again, indicating that the rate limits would be increased. The revised limits became 8,000 for verified accounts, 800 for unverified accounts, and 400 for new unverified accounts. Yet, within three hours of the previous update, Musk revised the numbers once more. The new reading limits stood at 10,000 posts for verified accounts, 1,000 for unverified accounts, and 500 for new unverified accounts.
On Saturday morning, downdetector.com highlighted a notable increase in user reports of difficulties accessing Twitter, with the number of problems reported reaching thousands by the afternoon.
Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in October for approximately $44 billion, the company and its platform have undergone significant changes. In a bid to substantially reduce costs, the company made the decision to downsize its workforce by approximately 75%, resulting in the departure of around 7,500 employees. This move raised concerns about Twitter’s ability to sustain its platform effectively.
In April, Twitter began phasing out the traditional “blue check marks” that symbolized verification.
Instead, users now have the option to obtain a checkmark and achieve verified status by meeting specific eligibility criteria and paying a monthly subscription fee. Musk announced in May that he would step down as CEO, having previously pledged in December to relinquish the position as soon as he found a suitable successor. Linda Yaccarino, former ad sales chief at NBCUniversal, has taken over as Musk’s replacement. Musk, who remains in charge of Tesla and SpaceX, expressed his intention to transition to the roles of executive chairman and chief technology officer within Twitter.