* ‘Delete Twitter’ and ‘Delete Twitter account’ searches have risen by
983% and 520% in the UK as rate limiting imposed on accounts
* The change prompted a 2,806% rise in searches for ‘How to delete
Twitter account’
* Rate limiting appeared to confuse some users, as ‘Is Twitter down’
saw a massive 4,173% rise
Analysis of Google search data reveals that online searches for ‘Delete
Twitter’ and ‘Delete Twitter account’ rocketed 983% and 520% in the
United Kingdom after this weekend as the social network limits the
number of tweets users can read.
A new finding by comparison service CasinoAlpha [1] reveals that online
interest in the term ‘Delete Twitter’ and ‘Delete Twitter account’ has
shot up by 983% and 520% in the UK and 131% worldwide in July as the
company began limiting the number of tweets, prompting backlash and
confusion among users about whether the app was down.
Elon Musk said in a post on Saturday that verified accounts were now
limited to viewing 6,000 posts per day, with a limit of just 600 for
unverified accounts and 300 for new unverified accounts.
In his post, Musk explains this was done to combat “data scraping and
system manipulation.”
But this change has caused backlash and confusion from affected users.
At the same time, searches for ‘How to delete Twitter account’ soared by
2,806% and 152% worldwide on July 1 as UK-based account holders find out
how they will be affected.
But the latest plans to restrict accounts have prompted a 4,173% rise in
searches for ‘Is Twitter down’ in the UK and 3,880% worldwide as viewers
are hit with view limits without explanation.
Tudor Turiceanu [2], CEO of CasinoAlpha [1], commented on the findings:
“Limiting the number of tweets that users can view is a major change to
Twitter. It appears that these restrictions have not been properly
communicated to users, as there has been a sharp rise in searches
querying if the website is down. This appears to be the latest move to
attract users to its paid subscription platform, with Twitter blue users
able to read ten times the tweets of a free account holder. However,
some users have been turned off, as these findings show a huge rise in
Twitter users looking to delete their accounts.”
