Twitter blocks browsing access for people without accounts due to AI

Twitter has stopped browsing access on its web platform for people without accounts, and they have to first create an account to view tweets. Also Read: Elon Musk Shows How Grok Imagine Can Turn Your Odd Ideas Into Shareable Talking Videos

Elon Musk said on Saturday that this drastic action was necessary due to “extreme levels of data scraping”. Also Read: Elon Musk's X Launches XChat For All Users With Security Features And New Tools

However, the move could backfire as if tweets are not publicly accessible, search engine algorithms could rank Twitter’s content lower. Also Read: Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Grok Code Fast 1 With Agentic Coding Abilities, Free For A Week

Musk also said it was a temporary emergency measure.

“We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users,” the Twitter owner posted.

“Almost every company doing AI, from startups to some of the biggest corporations on Earth, was scraping vast amounts of data,” he claimed.

According to Musk, it is rather “galling to have to bring large numbers of servers online on an emergency basis just to facilitate some AI startup’s outrageous valuation”.

Reports said that like many of Twitter’s recent changes, the latest move could easily backfire.

“It is understandable that Twitter wants to protects its data from being taken for free, though this move undoubtedly reduces Twitter’s reach and exposure from external links/embeds, as well as raising some privacy concerns. Hopefully a better solution can be found longer term,” posted @TitterDaily.

With this move, Musk aims to prevent AI tools from searching Twitter.

–IANS