On July 1, many Twitter users worldwide started the weekend—and a new month—by receiving a “rate-limit exceeded” notification on their personal feed page.

The effects of this were limited page scrolling, disappearing timelines, and an inability to retrieve, send out tweets, or even send a direct message.

But what was the cause?

This is due to a new temporary policy limiting the number of tweets people can read. According to Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, verified accounts can only read 6,000 tweets per day, unverified accounts 600 tweets per day, and new unverified accounts 300 tweets per day until further notice.

It has since been upgraded to 10,000, 1,000, and 500 tweets, respectively (after much backlash). According to Musk, this move was made to address “extreme levels of data scraping and manipulation.”

But what does data scraping even mean?

This is an automated process of extracting large amounts of data from websites or online sources.

According to the co-founder of legal tech startup Mustarred, Oyindolapo Olulesi, while this is useful for data analysts, it can also be a “powerful tool in the hands of bad actors”, which is why social platforms usually frown against it.

He also mentioned that there are other claims that Musk could just be using this to mask a bigger issue. “Some say Twitter is still owing AWS (Amazon); others say the platform probably had a cyberattack,” he says. 

But beyond the discomfort of having to keep track of tweets, what impact does it have on the way Nigerians engage with Twitter? What does the future of civic engagement look like for the country?

For citizens, there are mixed feelings

We found many interesting responses in discussions among our Citizen Community members on WhatsApp.

Users like Acacia do not support the rate limit, as she fears missing out on important information. 

She asked, “What if I see 600 tweets before a message by the Federal Government or maybe the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC)?”

Acacia also added that social media platforms like Twitter have become “means of expressing one’s rights”, and its usage should be based on the “user’s discretion and discipline.”

An example is the 2020 #EndSARS riot, which kickstarted as an online movement against harmful practices by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

There is a growing lack of care about the issue as well. For users like Teekay and Kindred who shared their opinions with Citizen, the move doesn’t affect them as they do not frequently use the app. 

However, in the nooks and crannies where the conversation about Twitter usage and its end is being envisioned, there are citizens who don’t care. Some people, like Teekay, believe Twitter is still “unserious” about the new policy, especially as his “more active friends” on the platform have yet to complain about these restrictions bitterly.

“It’s us going back to traditional means of sourcing stories”

For Senior Editor at TechCabal, Noah Banjo, the new policy, even though temporary, could make sourcing for stories a hard task as a journalist.

He explains, “In instances where someone has used a keyword many times, how would you know when your limit is about to be exceeded? This will make the process of finding stories even more difficult. Journalists will now have to settle for breaking stories and move on. In-depth stories that give insight into important stories are usually found in Twitter threads, but these threads could now be cut short. This affects the journalists and audience that need this information.”

Banjo added that the new policy could make the art of fact-checking claims difficult. This is because the policy encourages more users to pay for verification, making these people “the forefront of spreading misinformation that can get more visibility as a result of their verification.”

“Curtailment of Twitter would likely result in diminished levels of civic engagement”

Ufuoma Oghuvwu, a Senior Programs Associate at Enough is Enough, believes that the effects of “curtailment of Twitter would likely result in diminished levels of civic engagement.”

She also believes it will affect civic communication with the youth and governmental NGOs, which happen to be “the largest voting bloc in our electorate.”

According to Oghuvwu, solutions with intentional physical civic engagement are the way to go. “Drawing lessons from the recent elections, it is evident that substantial efforts are required to establish a strong connection between the virtual realm of political engagement and offline structures necessary to shape governance in our society.”