Twitter Implements Harsh Reading Limits – Update

Sentinel first reported this as a DDOS attack but we were wrong. Gab explained what is going on.

GAB SAYS IT’S NOT DDOS.

Nearly everything that is publicly accessible on the Internet is being “scraped” or downloaded by various sources. In the beginning, it was primarily search engines doing this, but this has been forever expanding to include archive sites, researchers, advertising shops, government agencies, and many more organizations who are hungry for data to collect and analyze. It is a fact of life on the open web, and something we at Gab are very familiar with.

Twitter has recently implemented some harsh daily “reading” limits on normal user accounts and even on paid verified accounts, complaining about the scraping they are being subjected to. They have also locked down the entire site from view unless you have an account. We are skeptical if this is the true motivation behind the changes because there are obviously better ways to combat excessive scraping than to implement blanket limitations on everyone.

I use Twitter very lightly, quickly scanning it a few times a day, and I have already received the rate-limiting error today. I find it very hard to believe that they cannot handle the traffic from the scraping or that they cannot address the scraping in the same ways we have.

Through constant monitoring of the site and the sources of traffic, we are able to identify specific IPs and networks where scraping is originating. We ban these sources and continue to ban new ones as they appear. This is why some users on certain VPN locations will be unable to access the site because that same location was being used to abuse the site. We do also have some rate limits in place, although they are meant to be a second layer of defense and set at a level we believe is unlikely to be hit by a human user.

Protecting the site while keeping everything open and fully accessible to our users and the general public, is our goal. On this, I think we do a great job and strike the right balance. Twitter has seemingly left the open web and joined Facebook in requiring everyone to be logged in to view content. This only makes Gab more important as a public source of news and free expression, accessible by anyone anywhere.

Original Story

Twitter suffered a massive DDOS attack, and Elon set limits on people temporarily. I paid my $8, so I’m good. People are predicting the end of the platform. Conservative Treehouse said it’s as he expected. Twitter will fail. He believes the business model must die, and Elon has no choice but to cave to censors.

Various users say Elon Musk is doing it to himself.

ORGANIZATIONS ARE UNDER DDOS ATTACKS BUT IT WASN’T TWITTER’S ISSUE

Then on Friday, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned of ongoing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks after U.S. organizations across multiple industry sectors were hit.

All U.S. orgs were advised to take proactive measures to ensure that their security teams are ready to thwart or mitigate the effects of such attacks.

For instance, network administrators should be ready to quickly apply firewall rules or redirect incoming malicious traffic through DoS protection services to prevent attackers from taking down targeted online portals or services, reports Bleeping Computer.

🔒 @CISAgov is aware of #DoS & #DDoS attacks on multiple sectors. These disrupt services, drain resources, and damage reputation. Contact your network admin to detect/mitigate attacks. Consult your ISP for guidance. Stay vigilant! #Cybersecurity https://t.co/OdRdxtwjeb

— CISA Cyber (@CISACyber) June 30, 2023

Elon tweeted, “To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits: – Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day – Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day – New unverified accounts to 300/day.”

To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits:

– Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day
– Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day
– New unverified accounts to 300/day

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023

Now to 10k, 1k & 0.5k

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023

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