Twitter Continues Dividing User Base, Makes Tweetdeck Verification-Only

On the heels of Elon Musk limiting the amount of material (600 posts!) non-verified users can read on the platform each day, Twitter has now announced that its long-awaited official and “new” version of Tweetdeck–which has been in previews for two years–is ready for prime time. Though it comes with a catch: in 30 days, it will become a Verified-only feature, meaning that anyone interested in utilizing the popular interface will have to pay to become a Twitter Blue subscriber. The original Tweetdeck has been wracked by recent problems that The Verge claims are due to “removing legacy APIs to prevent data scraping,” and the switch to the revamped program will reportedly begin this week and be mandatory for all users, during which time saved searches, lists, and columns will be ported over. Additionally, Tweetdeck will support full composer functionality, Spaces, video docking and polls, although Teams functionality won’t be restored for a few weeks. The news was announced by Twitter’s support account, and immediately resulted in scores of negative comments for Tweetdeck’s new pay-to-play format.