Twitter will limit the sending of private messages to Internet users who have not subscribed to the paid offer

Has Elon Musk found a new strategy to attract Internet users to Twitter Blue? Launched last November, Twitter’s paid offer allowing, among other things, to send longer tweets and correct them, has not been able to convince for the time being. So much so that last May, the specialized media Mashable revealed that more than half of the first users who subscribed to Twitter Blue had then terminated. At the head of the platform, the whimsical billionaire Elon Musk has therefore had a new idea which could take shape in the next update of the application, expected within a few days.

As reported by Alessandro Paluzzi, social network specialist, an average user will then be unable to add an account that does not follow him back in a group discussion. He will also not be able to send private messages to this other user. And will instead receive an error message reminding that only verified users are exempt from this restriction. The number of private messages sent to people who follow us will be limited in proportions for the time being unknown.

#Twitter is working to allow only verified users to:

1. add people who don’t follow them to a group
2. create a group with users that don’t follow them
3. send Direct Message requests to people who don’t follow them pic.twitter.com/Sx58XLM4yY

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) June 7, 2023

Operation similar to that of LinkedIn

If he has not officially confirmed the arrival of this new rule of the game, Elon Musk, however, wanted to justify it. According to him, this update is necessary to fight against the countless invitations by private message, sent by robots. A phenomenon that has tended to increase in recent weeks. “The only ‘social networks’ that will survive will be those that require verification,” he wrote on Twitter.

Hopefully releasing the update this week.

As I’ve said many times, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI bots. Soon, it will be impossible.

The only “social networks” that survive will be those that require verification. The payment system is a means of…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 11, 2023

By introducing this new feature, Twitter would then join LinkedIn, which operates according to a similar scheme. On the social network dedicated to professionals, a user must imperatively subscribe to the premium offer in order to get in touch with a person who does not follow him in return.

Since its acquisition by Elon Musk at the end of last year, Twitter has been the subject of much criticism. Affected by numerous bugs at the start of the year, the platform is also singled out for its unreadable operation and the policy pursued by its owner. With, first of all, the removal of blue badges for users who are not subscribed to Twitter Blue. Elon Musk himself had recognized last April “many errors” in the management of the social network which he had compared to “roller coasters”.