Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino calls Musk's rate limits decision 'meaningful'
What's the story
Last week, Twitter surprised its users by limiting the number of tweets a person could read each day. The move resulted in a messy few days for the microblogging platform. Now, CEO Linda Yaccarino has come out in support of the rate limits. She called it a "meaningful" move. Let's see what exactly Yaccarino said about Twitter's latest fiasco.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Elon Musk's Twitter is known for making controversial decisions. But the company took it up a notch with the move to put a cap on how many tweets a person can read. It was Musk who announced the decision. There have been questions about how Yaccarino felt about the move. Now, we know the CEO and owner are on the same page.
Yaccarino
Yaccarino called rate limits a big move
"When you have a mission like Twitter -- you need to make big moves to keep strengthening the platform," Yaccarino wrote on Twitter. "This work is meaningful and on-going," she added. The Twitter CEO also provided a link to a blog post titled Update on Twitter's Rate Limits. The post was published by Twitter Business and explains the platform's side of things.
Reason
The move is aimed at bots and bad actors: Twitter
According to the blog post, the decision to temporarily limit the usage of Twitter was taken to "ensure the authenticity" of its user base. The extreme measure was aimed at detecting and eliminating bots and other "bad actors" that are harming the platform, the company added. Twitter also explains why it did not provide an advance notice of the move.
Notice
Advance notice could have spooked targeted accounts
The company said an advance notice could have spooked the bad actors and allowed them to "alter their behavior to evade detection." Twitter added that it is working to prevent some accounts from scraping public Twitter data to train AI models and "manipulating people and conversation on the platform in various ways." People have been skeptical about Twitter's reasoning, though.
Impact
The restrictions affect only a small percentage: Twitter
Addressing the users, Twitter said the restrictions affect only a "small percentage of people using the platform." "We will provide an update when the work is complete," the platform added. There have been concerns about how the move could affect Twitter's advertising, which is already in tatters. The company said, "effects on advertising have been minimal."