Twitter to restrict spam by limiting number of unverified direct msgs

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
23 Jul 2023 16:42

The decision is being called out by many platform users who argue that it makes no sense, calling it a cash grab.

The Twitter logo outside the company headquarters in California in October 2022. (AP)

A message from Twitter Support announced on Friday that an imposition on daily limits on the number of direct messages from unverified accounts would be enforced to cut down on spam and simultaneously encourage users to sign up for TwitterBlue for unrestricted access to messaging.

“We’ll soon be implementing some changes in our effort to reduce spam in Direct Messages. Unverified accounts will have daily limits on the number of DMs they can send. Subscribe today to send more messages,” the message read.

The decision has been called out by many platform users who argued that it makes no sense, and that it portrays another attempt for more profit from Twitter Blue.

Twitter “temporarily” placed a limit earlier this month on unverified accounts to reading 800 posts per day, and new unverified accounts to 400 per day. Meanwhile, verified users were permitted to view up to 8,000 posts per day.

The platform justified itself by saying that it was meant to curb the “extreme levels of data scraping”.

However, Twitter Support sees their anti-spam measures as successful so far, arguing that because of limiting the Direct Messaging inbox to verified users only, spam was diminished by 70%.

Bye Bye, Birdie

This comes the same day after Elon Musk tweeted about changing the platform's logo, stating that they will say goodbye to the Twitter brand and gradually phase out the bird symbol.

Musk posted an image of a flickering "X" but did not provide further details. He mentioned that if a good enough "X" logo is suggested, they will make it live worldwide the following day.

And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023

In the past, Twitter temporarily replaced the bird logo with Dogecoin's Shiba Inu dog, which significantly increased the meme coin's market value by up to $4 billion.