What and Why is a Twitter 'Rate Limit?'

A quick explanation of Elon's latest Twitter moves

Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash

As top Twitterer Elon Musk continues tweaking his latest acquisition, a new feature has users both scratching their heads and pulling their hair out.

This week Twitter users were introduced to rate limits - the purposeful limiting of how many tweets you can view in one day. To many it seemed absurd. This is Twitter. This is the internet. This is social media. Aren’t I supposed to be able to scroll endlessly, at any time?

Many users were furious. The issue seemed to compound after Musk announced a compromise of sorts - paid Twitter Blue subscribers will have a rate limit of 8000 tweets a day. Free users will have just 800.

The concession only served to make people even angrier. To many it looks like a cash grab, yet another excuse to monetize the platform.

Personally, I have very few issues with the changes that Musk has made at Twitter, or the rumors of changes yet to come. I work in online media and I am very familiar with how hard it is to make a buck on the worldwide web these days. Social media is a strange beast. It is at once a vital and globally popular medium, and yet extremely difficult to monetize without driving away customers. Despite the progressive caterwauling about Musk’s personality, the fact remains that he is one of the most intelligent and successful men on the planet. That certainly makes him a little weird, but let’s not forget this is the man who built a rocket and currently has a Tesla on route to Mars. One day Tesla may actually own Mars. History will look back on Musk as a genius, once the current generation of progressives are locked away in nursing prisons homes by the children they experimented on ruthlessly for decades.