July 6, 2023
Twitter has silently lifted the login requirement to view tweets, days after it was first enforced. This means that users can now open Twitter links in a browser without signing into an account.
Twitter has not made any official announcement about why it lifted the requirement, but it is likely that it was done to prevent data scraping. Data scraping is the practice of extracting data from websites without the permission of the website owners.
TechCrunch discovered that tweet previews are now visible in popular messaging platforms like Slack and WhatsApp. Similarly, Engadget reported that Twitter previews are also accessible on iMessage. These observations raise questions about Twitter’s motive behind the sudden policy reversal.
The login requirement was first enforced by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who said that it was a “temporary emergency measure” to prevent data scraping. However, the company has not said whether it will reinstate the requirement in the future.
In addition to lifting the login requirement, Twitter has also imposed read limits of 1,000 posts per day for unverified users and 10,000 posts per day for verified users. These limits are also designed to prevent data scraping. The company said that the read limits have affected a “small percentage of people” and that “effects on advertising have been minimal.”
The sources for this piece include an article in TechCrunch.
