Musk to remove headlines from news articles shared on X
Musk will remove headlines that are automatically generated as part of the preview image and text that appeasr when news organisations share articles to X. Anyone sharing a link on X—from individual users to publishers—would need to manually add their own text alongside the links they share on the service; otherwise the post will display only an image with no context other than an overlay of the URL. According to a source, the change is being pushed directly by Musk, to reduce the height of tweets and allow more posts to fit on screen. Musk also believes the change will help curb clickbait. Musk:
This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.
This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2023
Twitter users complain after Musk limits numbers of posts they can read
Musk says that, due to AI companies scraping Twitter for data, rate limits will be placed on users that will only allow them to view a restricted number of tweets. Initially, Musk sets the limits to 6000 posts/day for verified accounts, 600 posts for unverified acounts and 300 posts/day for new unverified accounts. Six hours later he later updates the rate limits to 8000 posts/day for verified users, 800 for verified, and shortly thereafter increases it to 10,000 for vervified users and 1000 for unverified.
To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits: – Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day – Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day – New unverified accounts to 300/day
Now to 10k, 1k & 0.5k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023
Many users, who were not aware of the change, complained that they could not access tweets and were seeing a ‘rate limite exceeded’ message instead.
I was on this site for 5 mins and got this.
Thanks for my time back. I might be done. pic.twitter.com/1L0oFK5oJk
— Steve Cavendish (@scavendish) July 1, 2023
Dead celebrities get Twitter blue checks
Twitter adds blue checks to the accounts of numerous dead celebrities, including some that have been inactive for years. Paul Walker, Kobe Bryant, Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Bosman and Norm Macdonald are among the celebrities whose accounts have been “verified” posthumously. Whether this is another “trolling” stunt by Musk remains unclear.
Twitter removes blue ticks from non-paying users
Twitter removes blue ticks from as many as 300,000 accounts, including journalists, athletes and public figures, who have not paid a monthly fee to get one. High-profile users who lost their blue ticks include Beyoncé, Pope Francis, Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump. A Twitter Blue subscription costs $8 a month for individuals to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account.
Twitter removes phone type from Tweets
Musk reacts to Twitter removing the ability to see which device a tweet comes from [Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Android].
Hallelujah!!
Hallelujah!! https://t.co/i2FyvXPIHO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Verified Twitter users complain they can’t change name
Users complain to Musk after Twitter disables name changes on legacy verified accounts. A user called Count Dankula pleads for help after his name gets stuck after what he thought was a temporary change to “GIANT PENIS (parody)”:
Hello Elon, you seem to have disabled name changes. I was wondering when that would be getting turned back on as I appear to have gotten myself into a bit of a situation.
This is not a drill any time you try it just says DENY and doesn’t let you change it. I am literally stuck as GIANT PENIS this is not the future I imagined for myself Elon pls.
This is not a drill any time you try it just says DENY and doesn't let you change it. I am literally stuck as GIANT PENIS this is not the future I imagined for myself Elon pls. pic.twitter.com/rfWNxNiE0R
— Count Dankula (@CountDankulaTV) November 11, 2022
Musk kills ‘official’ grey checkmark
After grey checkmarks that had been rolled out to indicate ‘official’ accounts on Twitter started to disappear, Musk says:
I just killed it. Blue check will be the great leveler
I just killed it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
Later, Musk says:
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.
We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022