Why would Elon Musk limit views on his own platform?

Issue #148 | July 4, 2023

Over the weekend, Twitter owner Elon Musk announced sweeping controversial changes to Twitter, including temporary limits on how many tweets people can read daily (6,000 posts for verified users, 600 for non-verified users) and preventing users that are not logged into an account from viewing tweets.

Musk attributed the temporary changes to an effort “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.” However, many creators are upset about this new policy, saying Twitter doesn’t care about their livelihoods and might be breathing its last dying breath.

In typical Musk fashion, he left creators with a lot more questions than answers. Does just scrolling through your feed count as “reading” posts, or do you need to interact with a tweet for it to count as a read? When will these temporary changes be over? Why on Earth would Musk choose to limit engagement on his own platform? We have no clue.

Some users speculated that Musk implemented these changes because Twitter’s team is overwhelmed by the amount of content on the platform after recent layoffs. Some even argued that Twitter might be late on paying bills for certain servers, so it is throttling its own content to prevent consequences. There’s lots of speculation going around, so if you want to learn more about what the hell is going on, read our recap here.

If you need a more enjoyable evening read, we’ve got you covered. Check out Passionfruit Contributor Adam Collins’ review of a psychological thriller, touching on the dark underbelly of online fame, below. It’s a thought-provoking, refreshing, yet cautionary tale.

– Grace Stanley, Newsletter Editor

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THE COMMENTS SECTION

“Streaming outlets are making media giants richer BUT on the backs of the people that are responsible for creating the content who just want a fair living wage. The percentage to fairly compensate the creators is a tiny fraction as to what is getting made. The greed has to stop.”
—@MusicNeedsSupes on the treatment of creators in the music industry.

IN THE BIZ

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This is not only disturbing due to the lack of solidarity with the protestors but also seems to be worrying creators since the French tend to go pretty hard with their riots and aren’t exactly known for letting business progress “as usual.”
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Twitter alternative platform Bluesky temporarily stopped sign ups because too many people are trying to join. Lol, yeah, makes sense after this week of Twitter news.
If you can’t get a Bluesky invite though, don’t fret — neither can Joe Biden, apparently.
The “cage match” between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg may actually be happening. Dear God, what world do we live in?