The sad truth about Twitter’s rate limit

TL;DR

Elon Musk introduces rate limits and a paywall on Twitter while a developer creates a plugin to bypass the limit.

Transcript

it is July 3rd 2023 and you're watching the code report in his latest 7D chess move Elon surprised Twitter users with some exciting new features first he decreed a rate limit for everyone on the platform non-blue checks get to look at 600 tweets per day while paying members get to look it up to 6 000 tweets that may sound harsh but this is just som... Read More

Key Insights

• ☠️ Elon Musk introduced rate limits on Twitter to address social media addiction and encourage users to reduce screen time.
• ⛔ A programmer developed a Chrome plugin to bypass the rate limit, allowing users to view more tweets than the designated limit.
• 🤖 Twitter shut off public access to the website to combat increased bot and web scraper activity.
• ☠️ The implementation of rate limits and the paywall might also be connected to Twitter's unpaid bills, including their Google Cloud contract.
• ☠️ It is speculated that the rate limit is a temporary measure during the migration of Twitter's infrastructure to a Raspberry Pi.
• ❓ Another theory suggests that Elon Musk is battling against intelligence agencies like the CIA and NSA, who are scraping Twitter for censorship purposes.
• 🧑‍💼 Speculations also link these changes to Twitter's financial troubles, including unpaid bills and eviction from offices in Boulder, Colorado.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why did Elon Musk introduce a rate limit on Twitter?

Elon Musk introduced a rate limit on Twitter to tackle social media addiction and encourage users to reduce their screen time. By limiting the number of tweets viewable, Musk aims to help users break free from the constant scrolling habit.

Q: How does the Chrome plugin bypass the rate limit on Twitter?

The Chrome plugin developed by a programmer with an anime profile image uses the old Twitter theme and avoids the rate limit. This plugin allows users to view more tweets than the imposed limit, helping those who are experiencing withdrawals from the reduced access.

Q: Why did Twitter shut off public access to the website?

Twitter shut off public access to the website due to increased activity from bots and web scrapers. By limiting access to registered users, Twitter aims to reduce automated tools' ability to scrape tweets and gather data.

Q: What caused Twitter to experience downtime recently?

Twitter experienced downtime due to bad JavaScript code that inadvertently caused a self-inflicted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. This was a result of an error in the code that called the API unnecessarily and overwhelmed the server.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Elon Musk introduces a rate limit on Twitter, allowing non-paying users to view 600 tweets per day and paying members up to 6,000 tweets.

• A developer creates a Chrome plugin that uses the old Twitter theme to bypass the rate limit.

• Twitter shuts off public access to the website, making it necessary to be signed in to view Tweets.