Cupertino: Twitter has introduced a new policy that mandates users to have an account on the platform in order to view tweets, a move owner Elon Musk referred to as a "temporary emergency measure."
When attempting to access content on the platform, users will now be prompted to sign up for an account or log into an existing one in order to view their favourite tweets.
Musk explained the rationale behind this decision, stating, "We were experiencing excessive data pillaging that was adversely affecting the service for regular users!" in a tweet.
Previously, Musk expressed his dissatisfaction with artificial intelligence companies, such as OpenAI, using Twitter's data to train their large language models.
To bring back advertisers who had departed the platform under Musk's ownership and to boost subscription revenue, the company has implemented several initiatives, including incorporating verification checkmarks into the Twitter Blue program.
Additionally, Twitter recently announced its plans to prioritize video, creator, and commerce partnerships as part of its strategy to revitalize the company's business beyond digital advertising.
Furthermore, Twitter has started charging users for accessing its application programming interface (API), which is utilized by third-party apps and researchers.