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Twitter Restricts DMs to Combat Spam
Twitter is taking steps to combat spam and misuse of Direct Messages (DMs) by limiting the number of mass sends that users can make. This move comes after efforts to combat general spam in user feeds by prioritizing Twitter Blue users in content rankings in the app. Here’s what you need to know:
New Restrictions on DM Sending
Twitter is testing new restrictions on DM sending, with Twitter Blue users soon to be the only ones allowed to send DM requests to users who don’t follow them in the app. This restriction will significantly limit the capacity for mass DM spam. However, it will also affect businesses using Twitter for customer service, and various others who use Twitter DMs to reach out to potential contacts or collaborators.
Users can pay $8 per month to get verified as a form of user verification, which will allow them to engage via DMs. Elon Musk says that this new feature will likely be rolled out sometime this week.
Limits on the Amount of DMs Non-Subscribers Can Send
Twitter is also looking to implement limits on the amount of DMs that non-subscribers can send per day. Twitter will soon stop users from sending any DMs once they reach a certain limit, although the current daily limit is pegged at 500. The combined measures will significantly impact DM spammers – but they too will also be able to pay the $8 per month and continue sending DMs.
The risk for mass DM spammers is that they get reported and lose their verification result. Also, with DM spam reduced, this could be another step towards improving the messaging experience in the app, while also prompting more people to sign up for Twitter Blue.
Twitter Needs Revenue
Twitter needs more revenue because its overall ad revenue is down 40% year-over-year, and it also aims to diversify its income stream. The company wants to avoid implementing moderation and censorship at the behest of ad partners since ad revenue makes up around 90% of Twitter’s income.
Twitter’s proper verification demands confirmation of identity via government-issued ID, but that takes more manual checking and additional labor time. Therefore, Twitter is using what it calls ‚payment verification‘ as a proxy for ID confirmation. A user with a phone number and a connected bank account must be a real person; meanwhile, bot armies will be harder to construct if they have to pay for each account.
However, not enough people are paying for Twitter Blue to make this an effective option at present. Right now, around 0.28% of Twitter users have signed onto the program, which is nowhere near enough to make this a viable solution on any of these fronts.
Twitter believes that sticking with Twitter Blue as its verification stream, for now, is the best approach. The company will continue to implement new measures like this to make the app less functional for non-subscribers, in the hopes that more of them will just pay and be done with it.
Increase of Group Chat Limit
Twitter is increasing its group chat limit from 50 to 100 people, giving more capacity for discussion, which is part of a broader social media trend towards messaging interactions.
The Verdict
In conclusion, Twitter’s new DM restrictions might limit spamming, but could impact businesses using Twitter for customer service. Twitter is sticking with Twitter Blue as its verification stream, but not enough users have subscribed to make this effective. While Twitter desires to diversify its income stream, it needs revenue, and Twitter Blue may be its best option for now.