Twitter Users Annoyed by Forced Login Change

By Tanner Dedmon

Twitter's many users are once again annoyed by a change forced upon them that deals with how people login to the social platform and browse tweets. Prior to this change which seems to have rolled out on Thursday or Friday, people are now unable to browse the web version of Twitter if they're not signed into an account. Reasons for why this change might've happened have already been put forth, but people have also raised concerns about how this change will impact the overall quality of Twitter and any attempts to seek out accurate information about a topic.

To see the change for yourself, you can grab a link to a tweet, head to the web version of Twitter be it on a PC or a mobile device, and try and view that tweet when you're not logged in. You'll be presented with a wall prompting you to either login to Twitter or set up an account if you want to view the tweet.

For those who stick exclusively to the app version of Twitter, this may not seem like a big deal, but the ability to quickly look up a tweet on a device or browser that you weren't currently logged into is now gone. Sure, looking at tweets that way before was limited in nature since you'd be asked if you wanted to make an account or sign in regardless, and certain tweets deemed to include sensitive content wouldn't be viewable if you weren't signed in, but you could still quickly grab a tweet if you wanted to reference it. Given how many companies (game developers included) use Twitter as their go-to place for sharing info, the ability to quickly factcheck whether or not someone's said something or to simply get the latest info on a topic is now gone unless you're signed in.

Other platforms like Facebook and Instagram feature something similar where your access is limited if you're not signed in, but Twitter seems to be the first of the big three to totally lock down its contents unless you're in your account.

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