Musk has previously tweeted complaints about companies scraping Twitter data to train their AI, alleging that Microsoft “illegally trained with Twitter data” and saying startup OpenAI was not authorized to do so.

The move could prompt more Twitter trolls to sign up for accounts, but if it proves to be a long-term change, there could be other consequences, such as hampering Internet archives that take automatic snapshots of tweets.

One expert said Friday’s change should not affect tweets’ rankings on search engines. Jeff Sherman, founder of Top Marketing Agency, said Twitter can still allow Google and others to access feeds while blocking unregistered users, much as paywall news sites do.

“If they were allowing the search engines to continue to get to Twitter and all the feeds and then index the feeds, everything would still work as far as Twitter’s SEO is concerned,” Sherman said.

Friday’s change sparked widespread complaints online. If Mask quickly reverses the move, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s backed off after public pressure. Last December, Musk implemented a new rule banning links to certain other social media sites, but backlash from users eventually overturned the decision.

The move is the latest change to the app since Musk took over last October. After losing some important advertisers, Twitter has rolled out several new subscription features, one of which allows users to put tweets behind a personal paid wall that followers can subscribe to for a monthly fee.

In April, Twitter announced it would cut support for its free API and instead charge companies up to $500,000 a year to use the once-free tool, which critics said could hinder public safety alerts and crime research. the war.

This month, Musk hired former NBCUniversal advertising director Linda Iaccarino to replace him as CEO. Musk is now the company’s CEO and Chief Technology Officer.