As rivals Threads launches, Twitter does shocking U-turn, viewing tweets no longer requires login

Now, you can access tweets without having to log in to your Twitter account. The change happened before Twitter-rival Threads launch!

Tweets are now accessible without account login. (AFP)

Amid the launch of Meta Platforms' Twitter rival Threads, the Elon Musk-owned messaging app has done a shocking U-turn and silently removed the login option for accessing tweets that had upset so many subscribers that they had left Twitter for alternative messaging apps, like Mastodon, Spill and Bluesky, which saw record traffic as a consequence. It will now allow users to browse tweets without having an account. Just a few days back Twitter restricted browsing access for users without accounts, but it has revoked those changes now!

As per Techcrunch, Tweet previews are now available in Slack and WhatsApp and it was also allowing Twitter previews on iMessage, according to Engadget.

Earlier the login requirement was mandated by Elon Musk to prevent data scraping, although it was meant to be a temporary change. Now, it is not compulsory for any user to create an account or log in. You can access tweets just by browsing. Notably, even Google Search results had reduced number of tweets showing when compared to earlier times.

“Temporary emergency measure. We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users!”, Musk had said in a tweet.

There is no information about the current rollback of changes from Twitter or Elon Musk. No announcements were made about providing non-logged-in users with access to links.

Meta Platforms' Threads messaging app was launched just hours ago and according to reports it has raced past the 2 million subscribers mark within no time at all. Threads app is now available for iPhone and Android users. Threads is almost like Twitter and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, when asked by The Verge whether it is like Twitter said, "Kind of". Threads is being hyped up as a 'Twitter-killer' app.

Twitter has made various changes these past few weeks, as reported earlier, to solve data scraping problems. It allowed verified accounts to view only 6,000 tweets per day, while unverified accounts were limited to 600 tweets. later, Twitter set read restrictions of 1,000 posts per day for unverified users and 10,000 posts per day for authenticated users.

No official statement has been issued by Elon Musk or Twitter so far on this new change.