Elon Musk introduces daily limits on Twitter to combat data scraping

• Twitter introduces daily view limits on tweets, adjusted by Elon Musk
• Limits: Unverified accounts - 500 views, unverified users - 1,000 views, verified users - 10,000 views
• Aim to prevent data mining by third-party apps; API charges implemented; impacts third-party developers

Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently announced the introduction of daily view limits on tweets, which were subsequently adjusted within a half-day timeframe.

Under the new limits, unverified accounts are restricted to 500 daily tweet views, unverified users can read up to 1,000 tweets per day, while verified users enjoy a limit of 10,000 tweets per day.

These changes primarily aim to prevent third-party applications from extensively mining data from the platform, which Twitter intends to reserve for human users. Twitter offers enterprise tier monthly rates that enable third parties to access and utilize tweets on the platform. This move is part of a series of measures taken by Twitter to curb large-scale data usage.

Although Twitter introduced new monthly charges for using its Application Programming Interface (API) on April 18, 2023, there are currently no distinct pricing tiers for academic or research use of the data. The API serves as the means for third-party apps to interact with the platform, allowing them to read and post tweets. The updated developer agreement and API charges aim to prevent data scraping and potential misuse of the platform's data.

Twitter's Pro Tier, priced at $5,000 per month, grants access to 1,000,000 tweets. Similarly, Reddit also implemented measures to prevent third-party applications from mining data without providing sufficient value in return. These platform changes have impacted third-party developers, as the API charges have become excessively high, forcing them to find more efficient ways to utilize the platform or cease their operations altogether. Consequently, the reduction in third-party tools is leading to user dissatisfaction and limiting access to social networking platforms via their APIs.