Twitter Restricts Non-Logged In Customers from Viewing Tweets

This could possibly be an enormous change.

Based on varied reviews, Twitter is now blocking non-logged-in customers from viewing any tweets, in an expanded effort to cease information scrapers from accessing tweet information.

Tweet embeds look like nonetheless working for now, and tweets are nonetheless showing in Google Search, so there are nonetheless methods to see some tweets outdoors of the app, even with out an lively account. However evidently Twitter’s taking extra measures to pressure individuals to log in, whereas additionally limiting unauthorized third-party entry.   

Which could possibly be particularly targeted on one firm specifically.

As famous by T(w)itter Daily News, there are indications that OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has been accessing public tweet data, after Twitter cut it off from its API, because of the firm’s use of tweets to gas its generative AI fashions.

Twitter proprietor Elon Musk was an early investor in OpenAI, however after a falling out with its founders, he opted to step again from the challenge, and the corporate extra broadly, and since then, OpenAI has developed a variety of generative AI instruments, which at the moment are bringing in billions in enterprise offers.

Musk has repeatedly complained that his preliminary funding in what was a non-profit has helped OpenAI set up its enterprise, with no return for him.

Musk has additionally criticized ChatGPT as being ‘too woke’, which seems to have sparked his curiosity in constructing his personal ‘TruthGPT’ generative AI mannequin – and it’s this now adversarial relationship with OpenAI that appears to be influencing Twitter’s selections on information entry.

Twitter has already upped the worth of its API entry factors, in response to Musk’s perception that OpenAI wasn’t paying sufficient, whereas it additionally now blocks non-logged-in users from searching tweets, one other measure to limit tweet information.

Now, Twitter appears to be taking an much more drastic step. And whereas it solely applies to net customers proper now, Twitter will reportedly extend this new restriction to mobile users as well within the coming weeks.

So why is obstructing non-logged-in customers from viewing tweets such an enormous deal?

As a result of based on Twitter’s own EU disclosure, round 40% of customers, in Europe a minimum of, entry the platform as ‘logged out friends’.

That implies that Twitter is counting these as customers, which may have a big effect on total platform utilization.

Additionally attention-grabbing to notice this description on Twitter’s EU disclosure web site:

“Twitter makes most of its content material accessible to non-authenticated customers. Individuals and not using a Twitter account, or logged-out Twitter customers, are capable of entry most content material on Twitter.com with out being required to log in. This accessibility is prime to Twitter’s mission to serve the general public dialog and assist guarantee the liberty of expression and entry to info of its customers.”

Possibly not so elementary anymore.

In fact, that is EU solely information, but when that’s in any respect indicative of how individuals in different areas additionally entry tweets, that would spark an enormous shift, which may scale back Twitter’s function within the broader information eco-system.

On the similar time, it may additionally pressure extra individuals to enroll, and possibly that’s what Elon and Co. are banking on, that people who find themselves used to accessing tweets with out logging in will now be so reliant on that data that they’ll sign-up en-masse, bringing in a heap extra monetizable day by day actives for its enterprise.

Both manner, it’s an enormous transfer, which may have broader impacts.

UPDATE: In response to criticism of the transfer, Elon Musk now says this can be a non permanent measure.

I’m undecided that it was non permanent earlier than Twitter realized the potential influence.