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Elon Musk Implements Post Reading Limits on Twitter

In a surprising moves, Elon Musk, the renowned entrepreneur and owner of Twitter, has recently implemented new limits on the number of posts users can read per day on the platform. These measures according to Musk aim to address issues such as spam, excessive posting, and potential misuse of the platform, while still maintaining a reasonable degree of freedom of expression. Let’s delve into the details of these limits and explore their potential impact on the user experience.

Verified Accounts: Increased Reading Capacity

One of the key aspects of Elon Musk’s new policy is differentiating between verified and unverified accounts. Verified accounts, which have undergone a verification process to establish their authenticity, now enjoy an increased reading capacity. These accounts are permitted to read up to 6000 posts per day, granting them greater access to the content being shared on the platform.

Unverified Accounts: Moderate Reading Limits

In contrast to verified accounts, unverified accounts face more moderate reading limits. These accounts, which are yet to be verified, are now restricted to reading a maximum of 600 posts per day. This measure aims to strike a balance between allowing users to engage with a substantial amount of content while discouraging excessive consumption or potential misuse of the platform.

Stricter Limits for New Unverified Accounts

To further manage the influx of new accounts, Elon Musk has imposed even stricter limitations on post reading for new unverified accounts. These accounts, created after the implementation of the new policy, will have a cap of 300 posts per day. This approach ensures that new users gradually familiarize themselves with the platform and its dynamics, reducing the potential for spam or other forms of misuse.

The introduction of post reading limits reflects Elon Musk’s commitment to regulating and managing the content being shared on Twitter. With millions of tweets being posted every day, it has become increasingly challenging for users to keep up with the sheer volume of information. By implementing these restrictions, Musk aims to create a more controlled and balanced user experience on the platform.

One of the primary motivations behind these new limits according to Musk is to combat the persistent problem of spam and excessive posting. By imposing constraints on the number of posts users can read, Elon Musk hopes to discourage automated spam accounts and prevent the spread of low-quality or irrelevant content. These measures could lead to a cleaner and more engaging Twitter experience for users, as they are more likely to come across meaningful and insightful posts.

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Elon Musk announces $8 monthly charge for verified Twitter accounts

Elon Musk indicated on Tuesday that a verified account on Twitter in the future could cost $8 a month, despite facing a user backlash over proposals to charge for the feature.

In a Tuesday tweet to his more than 110 million followers, the new owner of Twitter described the current system for allocating blue check marks – which verify a user as a trustworthy source – as “bullshit”.

“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” he wrote; suggesting that a tick could be given to accounts that subscribe to the platform’s premium service, Blue.

Musk further stated that costs might vary according to country. Several nations, including the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, offer Twitter’s Blue service. In its current form, the service offers a more limited range of benefits, such as the ability to undo tweets. It costs $4.99 per month in the US.

Musk claimed in the Twitter discussion that Blue subscribers would also receive preference in responses, mentions, and searches. This, he said, is “important to combat” spam accounts. Users will also be able to submit lengthy video and audio clips and view half as many advertisements. No timing for the changes was announced.

On Monday, information about Musk’s plans to charge for verification leaked, which infuriated several users, including Stephen King. King, who had tweeted that if a $20 tick charge were implemented “I’m gone like Enron.”

A Twitter poll floating the idea had an 80% response for the option “wouldn’t pay”. However, one of Elon Musk’s investors in the acquisition of Twitter backed the $8 plan. The founder and chief executive of Binance, said he supported the plan since it would deal with annoying bots. Binance has invested $500 million in the agreement.

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Elon Musk appoints Matt Wallace as Twitter CEO

Elon Musk has appointed a new chief executive officer for Twitter hours after firing Parag Agrawal.

The new Twitter CEO Matt Wallace announced this in Twitter handle on Friday, October 28, 2022.

“I am honored to be selected by Elon Musk as the new CEO of Twitter. Will work hard to protect free speech and integrate #Dogecoin!, Matt Wallace tweeted.

Recall that 1st News reported the sack of the former CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, just hours after Musk took over the reins of Twitter. The same move also saw him fire Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety.

Musk, while alluding to the company’s iconic avian logo, that “the bird is liberated”.

The world’s wealthiest man,  had said he did not buy Twitter to make more money; but to open it up and make it a town square for free speech.

“I acquired Twitter because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square where a wide range of beliefs can be debated healthily without resorting to violence,” Musk said.

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society. In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes; as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost. 

“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said without consequences!”, Musk clarified.

Analysts have speculated about the possible changes Musk may bring to the microblogging site. According to Forbes, the billionaire has mulled several changes, including charging a small fee and reducing the number of bots on the platform.

He may also revoke the lifetime bans of former president Donald Trump and rapper Kanye West.

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Panic as Obama, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, many others Twitter account hacked

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging site, is currently in the middle of a massive breach that has seen the accounts of a number of prominent individuals hacked.

4wardwego reports that the list of accounts hacked numbers some of the world’s most influential people.

Indeed, the list reads like a who’s who. Among them are former US President Barack Obama; Amazon CEO and world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos; presumptive US Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden; Microsoft founder, Bill Gates; Tesla and Space X CEO, Elon Musk; rap mogul, Kanye West and publishing magnate Michael Bloomberg. Also, there are a number of yet unknown verified and un-verified that have been hacked as well.

Meanwhile, 4wardwego can confirm that the unprecedented Twitter breach began on Wednesday.

The Twitter accounts of some of the micro-blogging site’s most high-profile users began sending out scam messages. Most of the messages promised to double Bitcoin contributions sent to a wallet address.

Spam messages from Obama’s account

Consequently, the micro-blogging site has gone ahead to suspend all verified accounts in its effort to stem the hack.

Meanwhile, Twitter has shed some light on the unprecedented attack. In a series of tweets posted this evening under its support channel; Twitter said that its internal systems were compromised by the hackers. This confirmed speculations that the attack could not have been conducted without access to the company’s own tools and employee privileges.

“We detected what we believe to be a coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools,” the first tweet in a multi-tweet explainer thread reads. “We know they used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf.”

Indeed, the sheer number of accounts spouting identical messages; as well as the number of high profile (and presumably secure) Twitter accounts had many speculating that Twitter’s infrastructure had been compromised, rather than the individual accounts. Also, the sheer breadth of the compromise fuelled speculation that hackers had discovered a way to compromise a Twitter API; (application programming interface) or internal customer portal.

Reports indicate that while the identity of the individual(s) behind the account is not yet known; the motive behind the hack seems to have been achieved. Latest figures indicate that the Bitcoin account linked to the spam messages had been sent 12.86 Bitcoin. This is equivalent to almost $118,000. However, it is unclear if all the transactions were linked to the scam messages.

Also, reports indicate that the hack was well planned in advance.

Forbes revealed that Klijnsma, the head of threat research at the firm RiskIQ; had identified a sprawling network of close to 400 web domains created, in advance, to support the scam. They included domains such as billgatescoins.com and muskgive.com. This suggests that the attackers had their eyes on high profile and verified accounts before launching the attack.