Twitter Users Encounter Error Messages: Exceeding the Rate Limit

**Twitter Faces Technical Issues Under Elon Musk’s Ownership**

Twitter, the popular social media platform, experienced technical issues over the weekend with error messages appearing on its website. Users encountered messages such as “rate limit exceeded” and “cannot retrieve tweets.” This followed a previous issue where non-logged-in users were redirected to a signup page instead of accessing the site. Elon Musk, who took over the company last October, described this redirection as a “temporary emergency measure” due to a high level of data scraping from various artificial intelligence (AI) companies. Musk pointed out that many AI startups and large corporations were scraping a significant amount of data, leading to degraded service for regular users.

**Musk’s Efforts to Tackle Data Scraping**

One of the first actions Musk took upon assuming control of Twitter was changing where visitors to the website were redirected. Instead of landing on a signup page, they were directed to the Explore page, which showcases trending tweets and news stories. Musk’s aim was to curb unauthorized access and combat data scraping. He emphasized the importance of preventing unauthenticated access on social media platforms to avoid the creation of bot-heavy environments.

**The Reasons Behind Saturday’s Error Messages**

The reasons behind the error messages witnessed on Saturday are currently unclear. When contacted for comment, Twitter did not respond immediately. However, it is worth noting that even while logged in, attempting to view tweets from Musk and other prominent figures resulted in the error message “Sorry, you are rate-limited.” Users took to Twitter to express frustration, with hashtags like #TwitterDown, “rate limit exceeded” memes, and “Wtf Twitter” trending in the platform’s topics box. Downdetector, a website that monitors online service outages, recorded over 7,500 reports of Twitter issues on Saturday morning.

**Chaos and Revamp Under Musk’s Ownership**

Since Musk’s takeover, Twitter has experienced a chaotic period marked by significant changes and decisions. This includes mass layoffs, technical difficulties, and impulsive decisions that were later reversed. The platform faced another glitch in February when users across North America were unable to send messages due to exceeding their daily tweet limit. Musk requested employees to prioritize system stability and robustness during that time. In March, Twitter users encountered difficulties when clicking on links within tweets, resulting in an error message indicating limited access to the endpoint.

**Conclusion**

Twitter’s recent technical issues have raised concerns about the platform’s stability. Under Elon Musk’s ownership, Twitter has sought to combat data scraping and unauthorized access through various measures. However, these efforts have not been without challenges, as the platform continues to face technical glitches. As Twitter works to address these issues, it remains to be seen how the company will navigate the evolving landscape of social media.