Elon Musk's Twitter Read-limit Restriction Disrupts TweetDeck User Experience

As a response to prevent data scraping, Elon Musk imposed a restriction on the daily number of tweets users can read. While this has had a significant impact on all Twitter users, those using TweetDeck are experiencing severe problems. Reportedly, there have been multiple issues, including notifications and whole columns failing to load effectively.

Initially, Musk enforced a read limit of 6,000 posts per day for verified users and 600 posts for those unverified. A few hours later, these figures were revised and increased to 10,000 and 1,000 posts, respectively. Given the nature of TweetDeck, which loads multiple tweets through various columns concurrently, the read-limit restriction has a more pronounced effect on its users.

The last official update from TweetDeck was when its Mac app was shut down in June 2022, before Musk took over the company. Twitter announced that it was testing a new web app version of TweetDeck in selected regions. However, there has been no official word regarding the future of TweetDeck under the new management. Despite the silence, rumors persist that the company might transition it to a paid feature.

In addition to the read-limit restrictions, Twitter also recently imposed a restriction on viewing tweets without logging in. The company's aim is to prohibit individuals or organizations from data scraping for training AI models. Musk has described this as a "temporary emergency measure" in response to Twitter's data being "pillaged," impacting the user experience. However, the new measures introduced by Musk have also negatively affected the user experience. Users, including those who are verified and pay for the service, are quickly reaching the imposed rate limits on the platform.