Elon Musk imposes ‘rate limit’ on Twitter citing extreme ‘system manipulation’

July 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Verified Twitter users will be allowed to view 10,000 posts per day, while new, unverified accounts will get 500 under the new limits.

Social media platform Twitter is temporarily limiting the number of posts that users will be allowed to read per day, after seeing “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation,” according to executive chairman Elon Musk.

In a July 1 post, Musk said the temporary limits will see verified accounts capped at 10,000 posts per day, while unverified and new, unverified accounts are capped at 1,000 and 500 posts per day respectively:

Now to 10k, 1k & 0.5k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023

Twitter users had been reporting issues on the platform over the last few days including the inability to retrieve tweets, missing timelines, and being met with a "rate limited exceeded" message, leading to the hashtag #TwitterDown #TwitterFail to trend in certain jurisdictions.

*A screenshot of a Twitter user’s account — having reached their rate limit. Source: Twitter*

Real-time outage monitor website Downdetector has seen thousands of user-submitted reports claiming Twitter outages over the last 24 hours.

France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the East and West Coasts of the United States appear to be the most affected regions, according to Is The Service Down.

*Number of outage reports on Twitter in 15-minute intervals over the last 24 hours. Source: Downdetector*

Musk didn’t clarify what may be responsible for scraping Twitter’s data and didn’t elaborate on the root cause behind the “system manipulation” claim, but said that their data was being "pillaged" so much it was degrading service for users.

Some suggest that the extreme "data scraping" has been caused by web-browsing-enabled artificial intelligence chatbots, such as OpenAI's GPT-4.

According to Twitter’s developer documents, rate limits are imposed to manage the volume of requests made to Twitter’s Application Program Interface (API).

“These limits help us provide the reliable and scalable API that our developer community relies on,” the document states.

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter was among the few that defended the recent moves in a July 2 post, noting that “Running Twitter is hard” and that the decision was likely made for the greater good of the platform.

He added that he’d like to see Twitter move to a “truly censorship-resistant open protocol” like Bitcoin and Nostr:

And I do hope they consider building on truly censorship-resistant open protocols like bitcoin and nostr to help ease that burden. Good for all, and critical to preserve the open internet.
— jack (@jack) July 1, 2023

Outside of the office, Musk appears to be training for a potential mixed martial arts cage fight with fellow billionaire and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

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Jack Dorsey courts controversy by claiming ETH is a security

June 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

block

Since Binance and Coinbase were sued for offering unregistered securities, the longtime Bitcoin advocate has tweeted posts promoting a focus on BTC development.

Long-time Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Jack Dorsey has found himself in a Twitter war with several crypto industry pundits after he responded with “yes” to a question asking if Ether (ETH) was a security.

The comment caught the attention of Udi Wertheimer, a Bitcoin Ordinals developer at Taproot Wizards, who inferred Dorsey was a “clown” in a tweet on June 6.

In response, Dorsey tweeted, “ETH is not a security? Teach me wizard,” which prompted Wertheimer to share a five-year-old video of the United States Securities Exchange CommissionChair Gary Gensler stating that ETH was now “sufficiently decentralized” and wasn’t a security.

clowns. pic.twitter.com/S8AiJwuMem
— Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer) June 6, 2023

However, Gabor Gurbacs, strategy adviser to stablecoin issuer Tether and investment management firm VanEck, weighed in on Wertheimer’s comment, stating that Ethereum’s recent transition to proof-of-stake may have re-triggered securities laws.

The online scuffle comes in light of the SEC filing lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Coinbase on June 5 and 6 for allegedly offering tokens considered to be unregistered securities.

Dorsey also tweeted and implied approval of a screenshot of a post by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in 2015, where he referred to altcoins as a “distraction” and that Coinbase should instead “be focused” on Bitcoin.

https://t.co/GEtVbHtk4L
— jack (@jack) June 6, 2023

Dorsey continued on his pro-Bitcoin tweeting streak and retweeted a video of Jack Mallers — CEO of Bitcoin Lightning application Strike — calling out Armstrong for choosing to prioritize altcoins over building on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.

When Dorsey was in charge of Twitter in 2021 the company sold 140 Ethereum-based nonfungible tokens (NFTs) but he rejected investing in Ether at the time.

Dorsey also downplayed Ethereum’s development in August 2021 when he claimed that Ethereum alone wouldn’t be able to disrupt big tech.

Dorsey recently provided funding and became an advocate for Nostr, a decentralized “Twitter killer” network that integrates Bitcoin Lightning-based payments on the “Damus” platform.

Magazine: Crypto regulation — Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

Snoop Dogg revealed as co-founder of Web3-powered livestream platform

March 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Audio Stream

Snoop Dogg has had a considerable presence in the Web3 creator movement since NFTs first gained popularity in 2021.

American rapper and actor Snoop Dogg has been revealed as one of the co-founders of a Web3-powered live streaming app called “Shiller" — adding to yet another Web3 partnership for the well-known hip-hop artist.

The app is described as a “live broadcast platform” that aims to combine Web3 technology with real-time live-streaming content. The rap star has been named as a co-founder of the app along with technology entrepreneur Sam Jones.

Get ready for the Web3 live stream revolution!

Say goodbye to the middlemen and hello to true creator empowerment with Shiller!

Apply now https://t.co/w43RvAGN3t pic.twitter.com/YV9H2Wa5LF
— Shiller (@shiller) February 11, 2023

It follows a wave of Web3 partnerships by Snoop Dogg in the last year.

In April last year, Snoop Dogg partnered with Sandbox metaverse to launch an NFT collection called “Snoop Avatars” and released a hip-hop single titled “A Hard Working Man,” which was later accompanied by a 50,000-piece NFT drop.

The rap star also partnered with Yuga Labs — the team behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks — to perform on a metaverse-transformed stage at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Aug. 29.

Snoop Dogg also recently partnered with crypto casino Roobet, where he will serve as the firm’s “Chief Ganjaroo Officer,” according to a March 1 statement from Roobet.

As for Shiller, blockchain will feature heavily in the platform, allowing content creators to “token-gate” their streams and promote nonfungible tokens or other products from e-commerce websites.

These content creators can be paid out in cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) or NFTs, which can be cashed out as fiat.

*A preview of the Shiller application. Source:* *Shiller*

It was slated for a January release but has been delayed until April, according to Shiller’s latest update on March 2.

Creator economy movement

The launch of Shiller appears to be part of a broader creator economy movement where Web3 will likely play a role.

While “Web1” enabled users to write HTML and read content, “Web2” enabled user-to-user interactions — which was brought to the masses by a few social media monopolies, such as Facebook, Google and YouTube.

The “Web3” movement aims to eliminate these intermediaries by providing creators with complete ownership over their content and the monetization that flows from it.

Decentralized messaging platforms are beginning to emerge too, with one named “Damus” attempting to become a “Twitter killer.”

Backed by Jack Dorsey, Damus went live on the Apple App Store on Feb. 1. It is built on a decentralized network that enables encrypted end-to-end private messaging, called “Nostr.”

The platform comes with built-in Bitcoin (BTC) payments on the Lightning network.

Decentralized Twitter alternative goes live on Apple’s App Store

February 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Apple App Store

The Damus app is powered by Nostr which uses decentralized relays to distribute end-to-end encrypted messages.

Damus, a so-called “Twitter killer” built on a decentralized network has been approved on the Apple App Store.

The Damus team confirmed the approval to its 11,500 Twitter followers on Jan. 31, following what it claims was at least three rejections from the Big Tech player.

Shortly after, Twitter co-founder and Nostr contributor Jack Dorsey shared the news with his 6.5 million followers, with the entrepreneur labeling it as a “milestone” moment for open source protocols:

a milestone for open protocols...#nostr is now officially on the Apple App Store with @damusapp:https://t.co/GQmvPE5nfX
— jack (@jack) January 31, 2023

The app dubs itself the “social network you control” and is a messaging service built on Nostr — a decentralized network enabling encrypted, end-to-end private messaging, among other things.

It plans to become a social media platform with uncensored content. It also has built-in payments through the Bitcoin (BTC) layer-2 Lightning network according to a Jan. 27 post from Protos.

No servers run the network. Instead, Nostr utilizes decentralized relays to distribute messages.

Nostr developers are also focused on using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network to prevent Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) spam attacks on the Damus app.

*The User Interface of Damus displayed on an iPhone. Source:* *Github*

There have been 44 different software developers who have contributed to the code for the Damus web app, according to the team’s GitHub page.

Neat way to fetch bitcoin addresses: #nostr encrypted dms. pic.twitter.com/lMlnIhf3fg
— William Casarin ⚡️ (@jb55) January 29, 2023

Getting Damus on the Apple App Store didn’t come without issues though.

The Damus Twitter page posted that it had failed in at least three attempts before finally being approved:

We replied again clarifying where and how all these features are implemented. That's all we can do at this time....
— Damus⚡️ (@damusapp) January 31, 2023

One of Nostr’s core developers, William Casarin also shared some frustration on his personal Twitter account, stating that it would be a “shame” if Apple users couldn’t use Nostr natively.

While the exact partnership between Dorsey and Nostr isn’t known, the billionaire entrepreneur sent over 14 BTC — worth about $250,000 at the time — in mid-December to help the Nostr developer team.

While the news appeared to have increased awareness of the application amongst the Bitcoin community, other high-profile figures have tested out the Damus app too.

Amongst those include Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden and pro-crypto U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis.

One of the cool things about Nostr ("Notes and other stuff transmitted by relays", a new decentralized protocol that replaces things like Twitter and Instagram)—beyond censorship resistance—is that you aren't limited to 280 characters.

Find me there. pic.twitter.com/B7JUHeeSdP
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 23, 2023

At the time of writing, the Damus web app has run into problems. A warning message on the site homepage reads:

“Damus Web is down because there is someone trying to exploit browser loopholes to steal private keys. I would not recommend using a web client at this time. Damus iOS is not affected.”

Nostr

Creator economy movement

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