Business
Twitter Restricts Number Of Posts Users Can Read In AI Tussle
Elon Musk announced Saturday that Twitter would temporarily restrict how many tweets users could read per day, in a move meant to tamp down on the use of the site’s data by artificial intelligence companies.
The platform is limiting verified accounts to reading 6,000 tweets a day. Non-verified users — the free accounts that make up the majority of users — are limited to reading 600 tweets per day.
New unverified accounts would be limited to 300 tweets.
The decision was made “to address extreme levels of data scraping” and “system manipulation” by third-party platforms, Musk said in a tweet Saturday afternoon, as some users quickly hit their limits.
“Goodbye Twitter” was a trending topic in the United States following Musk’s announcement.
Twitter would “soon” raise the ceiling to 8,000 tweets per day for verified accounts, 800 for unverified accounts and 400 for new unverified accounts, Musk said.
Twitter’s billionaire owner did not give a timeline for how long the measures would be in place.
The day before, Musk had announced that it would no longer be possible to read tweets on the site without an account.
Much of the data scraping was coming from firms using it to build their AI models, Musk said, to the point that it was causing traffic issues with the site.
In creating AI that can respond in a human-like capacity, many companies feed them examples of real-life conversations from social media sites.
“Several hundred organizations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively, to the point where it was affecting the real user experience,” Musk said.
“Almost every company doing AI, from startups to some of the biggest corporations on Earth, was scraping vast amounts of data,” he said.
“It is rather galling to have to bring large numbers of servers online on an emergency basis just to facilitate some AI startup’s outrageous valuation.”
Twitter is not the only social media giant to have to wrangle with the rapid acceleration of the AI sector.
In mid-June, Reddit raised prices on third-party developers that were using its data and sweeping up conversations posted on its forums.
It proved a controversial move, as many regular users also accessed the site via third-party platforms, and marked a shift from previous arrangements where social media data had generally been provided for free or a small charge.
AFP
Business
NTA didn’t introduce VAT on charges collected by banks — NRS
The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) wishes to address and correct misleading narratives circulating in sections of the media suggesting that Value Added Tax (VAT) has been newly introduced on banking services, fees, commissions, or electronic money transfers.
Photo: NRS chairman, Zacch Adedeji
The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has clarified that the Nigeria Tax Act (NTA) did not introduce VAT on banking charges, nor did it impose any new tax obligation on customers in this regard.
In a statement made available to newsmen and signed by Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the NRS chairman, Zacch Adedeji, the service said the claims are incorrect.
According to the NRS, VAT has always applied to banking services and was not introduced by the Nigeria Tax Act.
The statement reads:
“The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) wishes to address and correct misleading narratives circulating in sections of the media suggesting that Value Added Tax (VAT) has been newly introduced on banking services, fees, commissions, or electronic money transfers.
This claim is categorically incorrect.
“VAT has always applied to fees, commissions, and charges for services rendered by banks and other financial institutions under Nigeria’s long-established VAT regime.”
Business
LIRS gives employers Jan 31 deadline for filing 2025 tax returns
The Executive Chairman of LIRS, Dr Ayodele Subair, who gave the directive on Thursday, reminded employers that the obligation to file annual returns is in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025.
The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service(LIRS) fixed statutory deadline of January 31, 2026, for all employers of labour in the state to file their annual tax returns for the 2025 financial year.
The Executive Chairman of LIRS, Dr Ayodele Subair, who gave the directive on Thursday, reminded employers that the obligation to file annual returns is in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025.
Subair explained that employers are required to file detailed returns on emoluments and compensation paid to their employees, as well as payments made to service providers, vendors, and consultants, and to ensure that all applicable taxes due for the 2025 year are fully remitted.
He emphasised that the filing of annual returns is a mandatory legal obligation and warned that failure to comply would attract statutory sanctions, including administrative penalties, as prescribed under the new tax law.
Business
Nigeria To Review Inflation Reporting First Time In 15 years
The agency said the expected spike in December inflation did not reflect actual price movements in the economy but was largely a statistical distortion caused by the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index.
Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced plans to revise its inflation reporting methodology.
This followed concerns that December’s year-on-year figure may be artificially inflated due to the impact of last year’s rebasing exercise.
The agency said the expected spike in December inflation did not reflect actual price movements in the economy but was largely a statistical distortion caused by the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index.
Reuters reported that the rebasing, the first in 15 years, adopted December 2024 as the index reference point.
Officials explained that the change is likely to exaggerate the year-on-year inflation figure for December without accurately capturing prevailing market trends.
NDLEA Arrests Notorious Drug Kingpin 12 Years After Alleged Murder of Three Officers
Nigeria Bags 9th Bronze Medal at 2025 AFCON
Army says 80 Cross River militants surrender arms
Tech Expert, Zuckerberg trains with UFC champions, Adesanya, Alexander
Organ Trafficking: Ekweremadu bags 10 years in UK prison
SAINT OBI: Between his marriage and his death
-
Entertainment3 days agoTinubu Commends Rema, Burna Boy, Shallipopi, Other Nigerian Stars as Nigeria Dominates 9th AFRIMA
-
Politics3 days agoSHOCKING: Atiku’s Son Abba defects to APC, Pledges Support For Tinubu’s 2027 Re-election
-
Politics2 days agoAtiku reacts to his son’s defection to APC ” It’s personal to him”
-
News2 days agoFG approves 6-month maternity leave for female lecturers without pay
-
Crime2 days agoSupreme Court Orders Sule Lamido ₦1.35bn Corruption Trial to Resume
-
Business2 days agoLIRS gives employers Jan 31 deadline for filing 2025 tax returns
-
News2 days agoInsurgency: Trump allocates N587bn to US Africa Command for military operations in Nigeria, others
-
Business2 days agoNTA didn’t introduce VAT on charges collected by banks — NRS