On Saturday, social media giant Twitter experienced widespread service disruptions as thousands of users encountered difficulties accessing the platform. The issues arose after Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, implemented temporary restrictions on viewing tweets in an effort to prevent unauthorized scraping of valuable data. While the restrictions affected a relatively small fraction of Twitter’s global user base, the significant number of complaints led to the hashtag #TwitterDown trending in various regions.
The trouble began to surface early Saturday, prompting over 7,500 individuals to register complaints about the service disruption on Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages. Although this number constitutes only a fraction of Twitter’s 200 million-plus user base worldwide, the scale of the issues caused noticeable disruptions in certain parts of the world, raising concerns among users.
The service disruptions coincided with Twitter’s recent implementation of a requirement for users to log in to view tweets and profiles. This change marked a departure from the platform’s previous practice, allowing unrestricted access to public tweets. Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year, defended the new restrictions in a tweet on Friday, describing them as a temporary measure to counter data pillaging, which had been degrading the service for regular users. In a subsequent tweet on Saturday, Musk provided further details, stating that unverified accounts would be temporarily limited to viewing 600 posts per day, while verified accounts would be allowed up to 6,000 posts per day.
For some users, reaching the post limit could result in being locked out of Twitter for the remainder of the day, highlighting the potential impact of the new restrictions on daily usage.
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The disparity in viewing thresholds between verified and unverified accounts is a part of a subscription service that Musk introduced earlier this year, costing $8 per month. The subscription service aims to boost Twitter’s revenue, which has declined significantly since Musk’s acquisition. In an effort to regain advertisers who have reduced spending on the platform due to offensive content and changes in policies, Musk appointed Linda Yaccarino, a seasoned executive from NBC Universal, as Twitter’s CEO.
The Associated Press reached out to Twitter for comment on the access problems experienced on Saturday but received a generic automated response, indicating a lack of specific addressal of the issue.
Numerous users took to Twitter to express their frustrations, directly tweeting Elon Musk about their difficulties, with messages such as “Hey Elon, my Twitter isn’t working” and “A limit on reading tweets?”
Saturday’s service disruptions mark another notable incident since Elon Musk‘s acquisition of Twitter. In March, a widespread outage affected the platform, impacting over 8,000 users. These recurring incidents raise questions about the platform’s stability and the measures being taken to mitigate future disruptions.
As Twitter continues to address these service interruptions and adapt its policies, users worldwide eagerly await a stable and seamless user experience on the popular social media platform.
About Twitter:
Twitter, founded in 2006, is a leading social media platform that allows users to share and discover news, information, and engage in conversations through short-form posts known as “tweets.” With over 200 million users worldwide, Twitter has become a significant digital town square for individuals, organizations, and public figures to connect and express themselves. Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, and since then, the platform has undergone various changes and challenges as it strives to adapt to evolving user needs and address revenue concerns.
