Threads To Impose “Read Limits” On Posts To Combat Spam Attacks: Was Elon Musk Right?

Elon Musk had infamously imposed read limits on Tweets, which essentially restricted the number of posts Twitter users can access. Meta's Threads platform, which is currently Twitter's fastest-growing rival, has adopted a very similar strategy.

Meta has started restricting the number of posts Threads users can access daily to combat the growing menace of spam attacks. Are the restrictions identical to the Read Limits imposed by Elon Musk on Twitter?

Threads Platform Follows Twitter By Restricting Access To Content On Platform

Twitter's latest and one of its most threatening rivals, Instagram Threads, announced that it has to tighten up on rate limits due to spam attacks. Elon Musk did not miss the opportunity to smirk.

Elon Musk recently imposed "Read/Rate Limits" on Twitter earlier this month. He claimed the step was necessary "to address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation."

Needless to mention, Musk's new rule caused a severe backlash and nearly every Twitter user was upset about being restricted on the platform. Musk did ease up and significantly extended the limits on the content that can be accessed in a day. However, the large disparity between the number of Tweets accessible by "verified" Twitter Blue users and free users was still viewed as discrimination.

Clearly taking advantage of the backlash, Meta launched its competing platform Threads. Threads had over 100 Million users sign up for the platform in less than a week. Although positioned as an accompanying app to Instagram, the frenzied activity made it amply clear that people are seeking a democratic and reliable alternative to Twitter.

How Are The Rate Limits Imposed By Threads Different From Twitter?

Claiming that Twitter was facing "extreme levels of data scraping" from hundreds of organizations and other "system manipulation," Elon Musk enforced new limits on how many tweets users could read. The platform's new CEO justified the restrictive rule but assured it was temporary.

Twitter initially allowed Verified users (paying subscribers) to access a maximum of 6,000 Tweets daily, while unverified users could only view 600. After some backlash from users, Musk later increased the limits to 10,000 for Verified accounts, 1,000 for unverified accounts, and 500 for new ones.

Musk has indicated that he would increase the rate limit again for Verified users by 50%, implying that Twitter Blue subscribers could now see 15,000 posts. There appears to be no reprieve for free users.

Threads platform has taken a customized approach, which means there's no blanket rule for everybody. Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained the problem in a post on the Threads app. And he mentioned that the algorithms may tag some people. He even asked people who are accidentally restricted to report the same.

This clearly means some of the most active Threads users may be restricted. Meta seems to be hoping that the algorithms will be able to weed out spam bots. Additionally, there could be a Threads backend team to work with legitimate users to not negatively impact their experience.

Several posts on Threads suggest the platform has attracted a lot of bots and they are spamming users. It would be interesting to see how skillfully and sensitively Meta addresses the problem that has plagued nearly every social media platform.