Twitter: Elon Musk Introduces Temporary Read Limits
Twitter Faces Widespread Outages: Elon Musk Introduces Temporary Read Limits
Twitter, one of the world’s leading social media platforms, experienced a significant disruption on Saturday, leaving thousands of users across multiple countries unable to access the site or encountering difficulties and delays. As the outage unfolded, two trending topics emerged on the Twitter app in the US: “Rate Limit Exceeded” and “#TwitterDown,” garnering significant attention with over 40,000 tweets related to the former by Saturday noon. This article explores the details of the Twitter outage, user experiences, and the response from Elon Musk, who has recently taken an active role in shaping the platform’s future.
Outage Reports and User Challenges
According to DownDetector, reports of the Twitter outage began around 8 am EST and rapidly increased throughout the morning. By noon EST, the website had accumulated more than 7,400 outage reports. Users, including CNN journalists, voiced their frustrations as their Twitter feeds failed to load, accompanied by an error message stating, “Sorry, you are rate limited. Please wait a few moments then try again.” Other users encountered errors indicating an inability to retrieve tweets, compounding the frustration experienced by those affected.
Temporary Access Restrictions on Twitter
Elon Musk, a renowned entrepreneur and CEO of companies such as SpaceX and Tesla, addressed the situation by announcing temporary read limits on Twitter. As users clamored for information and expressed their dissatisfaction, the hashtags “Wtf twitter” and “Thanks Elon” gained traction in the US. Musk took the opportunity to leverage the situation to promote Twitter’s subscription service, Twitter Blue. He offered a blue verification check mark to users who signed up for the service, a move aimed at increasing revenue for the platform.
New Tweet Limits
In a subsequent post, Elon Musk shared his plans to increase the tweet limit “soon.” According to his announcement, verified users would enjoy a daily limit of 8,000 tweets, while unverified users would have a limit of 800. New unverified accounts would be restricted to 400 tweets per day. While this update attempted to address the frustrations of users, many remained discontented with the ongoing connection problems they encountered.
Unresolved Questions and Glitches
Twitter’s recent behaviour raises questions about its accessibility and policies. Just the day before the outage, users noticed that access to the platform was limited for those not logged into an account. However, it remained unclear whether this change resulted from an intentional policy update or a technical glitch. The majority of reported issues during the outage were related to the website, accounting for 44% of problems, followed closely by app-related issues at 39%.
Response from Twitter and Future Challenges
CNN reached out to Twitter for comment regarding the outage, but the platform responded with an automated poop emoji, leaving users and the public without a substantive explanation. This incident marked another instance of wide-ranging service disruptions on Twitter, with a previous outage occurring in March. Notably, since Elon Musk assumed a more prominent role in the company, Twitter has been undergoing changes, including the appointment of a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino. These efforts aim to address challenges such as the exodus of advertisers and position the platform for a more promising future.
Conclusion
The widespread Twitter outage on Saturday drew attention to the platform’s vulnerabilities and left countless users frustrated by the inability to access their feeds or retrieve tweets. Elon Musk’s temporary read limits and the promotion of Twitter Blue aimed to offer relief to users and generate additional revenue for the company. As Twitter navigates these disruptions, the response from both the platform and its users will be crucial in shaping its future trajectory.
