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Non-Twitter users cannot see their favourite celebrity tweets
The old setup allowed anyone with or without a Twitter account to at least see the tweets if they didn't interact with or like the tweets.
In a desperate bid to win new subscribers, Elon Musk has announced a new mandate for non-Twitter users. Basically, if you don't have an account on Twitter, the social networking website is off-limits. You can no longer view tweets if you are not a Twitter user. The old setup allowed anyone with or without a Twitter account to at least see the tweets if they didn't interact with or like them. But the new rule does not allow users to get a free pickaxe.
Elon Musk has explained on Twitter that this measure was taken to address the problem of data scraping from the platform by third parties. Musk stated that the excessive data mining was negatively affecting the service for regular users.
“Temporary emergency measure. We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users!,” he wrote.
Musk has previously criticized companies for using Twitter data without authorization. He accused Microsoft of illegally training its artificial intelligence using data from Twitter and raised concerns about OpenAI, a startup which was doing the same. This recent change could encourage more people to create Twitter accounts, but if it becomes a permanent change, it could affect the Internet archives that automatically capture and save tweets.
However, experts have stated that this change is unlikely to affect the ranking of tweets in search engines.
The change implemented on Friday received widespread complaints online. If Musk decides to reverse this decision immediately, it wouldn't be the first time he has backed down due to public pressure. In December of the previous year, Musk implemented a rule that prohibited links to certain social networking sites, but user backlash led to the decision being overturned.
Since Musk took over as CEO in October, Twitter has undergone several changes. After losing significant advertisers, the platform introduced new subscription features, such as the option to put tweets behind a paywall for followers to access for a monthly fee. In April, Twitter announced that it would stop supporting its free API, instead charging businesses up to $500,000 per year for its use. Critics expressed concern that this could hamper public safety alerts and war crimes investigations.
