What you need to know
- Adam Mosseri of Instragram announces a rate limit will be enforced on Threads to combat aggressive spam bots and attacks.
- The system isn't perfect as Mosseri states some "false positives" may occur for truly active users.
- This rate limit gives flashbacks to Elon Musk's enforcement of a rate limit for post-viewing on Twitter two weeks ago.
The substantial flood of users on Threads has prompted the platform to make a decision that's giving people flashbacks.
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri posted on Threads that the platform will introduce a rate limit after it observed an influx of spam attacks. Mosseri notes that as a result of increased spam attacks, "we're going to have to get tighter on things like rate limits, which is going to mean more unintentionally limiting active people (false positives)."
The system is obviously not perfect, and to that, Mosseri states, "If you get caught up those protections let us know."
Users quickly took to the comments, responding about their experiences with aggressive spam bots on Threads posting about an assortment of topics.
It is understandable that a platform that has grown as quickly as Threads would need to combat spam bots. However, it's reminiscent (and maybe too soon) of Twitter's recent behavior. Just weeks ago, Elon Musk announced that the platform had enforced a new rate limit of 6,000 posts a day for verified users. Unverified users were locked at 600 posts, as well.
Since then, Musk has raised that limit to 10,000 and 1,000 posts, respectively.
The Meta-owned Threads launched on July 6 and quickly became a hit among those looking for a Twitter alternative. In a few days after its initial launch, Threads surpassed 100 million user sign-ups, signifying its impact on those looking for an endlessly scrollable platform.
Mosseri reposted a thread by Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who spoke on his "optimism" toward the Threads community. Zuckerberg added, "The focus for the rest of the year is improving the basics and retention. It'll take time to stabilize, but once we nail that then we'll focus on growing the community."
As users started figuring Threads out, one of the high points was that there was no rate limit. For now, Mosseri hasn't clearly stated how the rate limit will look for users — or when it'll roll in, either.
