It is only a “momentary emergency measure.”
That is what Twitter proprietor Elon Musk mentioned on Friday after the platform’s customers observed that tweets and profiles have been inaccessible by way of internet browsers on each desktop and cellular gadgets until they have been logged in to an account. The change principally blocked all Twitter content material from unregistered guests and was not well-received by even its registered customers.
“Momentary emergency measure,” tweeted(opens in a brand new tab) Musk in a reply to a person posting concerning the login requirement. “We have been getting information pillaged a lot that it was degrading service for regular customers!”
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It is unclear precisely what Musk is referring to, however he is doubtless speaking about internet scrapers that pull information from web sites with out requiring any official API to take action. (In spite of everything, Twitter’s API is now severely restricted and prices a minimal of $42,000 monthly for many use instances.)
Aqueel Miqdad, a software program engineer that works at Twitter, additionally added an replace on the scenario moments earlier than Musk.
“It is a momentary restriction,” tweeted(opens in a brand new tab) Miqdad. “We are going to re-enable logged out twitter entry within the close to future.”
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As Mashable reported earlier at this time, many Twitter customers observed on Friday that the platform was blocking entry to Twitter’s content material until a person was logged in. As Zoe Schiffer of Platformer identified, the change from Twitter was sudden.
“Musk’s first mission after taking on was redirecting the Twitter homepage to Discover somewhat than the join display screen,” Schiffer mentioned(opens in a brand new tab), explaining how this transfer to lock content material behind a login was counterproductive to Musk’s earlier choice to drive guests to a web page stuffed with trending content material.
On the time, it seemed to be a measure to dam AI corporations from scraping information so as to prepare its language fashions. It additionally appeared like a maneuver to push guests into registering an account so as to develop Twitter’s month-to-month lively person base. As Mashable beforehand famous, in 2015, Twitter shared that “500 million individuals” visited the platform on a month-to-month foundation with out logging into an account.
Whether or not the choice to drive guests to login to a Twitter account is definitely momentary stays to be seen. Neither Musk or Miqdad shared any timeline for as soon as once more enabling Twitter entry for guests with out the login requirement.