In a surprising move, Twitter has silently removed the login requirement for users to view tweets, enabling anyone to access Twitter links in their browsers without the need for an account. This development was noticed by TechCrunch, as tweet previews began to unfurl on popular messaging platforms such as Slack, WhatsApp, and even iMessage, as reported by Engadget.
The impact on user engagement and discoverability of tweets
The initial implementation of the login requirement was introduced as a temporary measure by Twitter, with Elon Musk explaining that it was intended to prevent data scraping, which had been causing service degradation for regular users. However, Twitter has not provided any official statements regarding the recent change or disclosed the specific measures taken to address data scraping concerns.
Notably, Twitter’s decision coincides with the upcoming launch of Meta’s new text-based app called Threads. Interestingly, Threads also briefly allowed users to view posts on the web without logging in before subsequently removing this feature. It remains to be seen whether Threads will adopt a similar approach and allow users to access posts without requiring an account upon its official launch.
In addition to this update, Elon Musk, over the weekend, imposed read limits on Twitter. Unverified users now have a daily limit of 1,000 posts, while verified users can access up to 10,000 posts per day. Twitter claims that only a small percentage of users have been affected by these changes, and the impact on advertising has been minimal, as stated in a recent company blog post.
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(Via)
