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
KPMG, NRS settle rifts over new tax laws
In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives.
KPMG executives and Zaach Adedeji, chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), held a meeting on Monday following the disagreement over the new tax laws.
In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives
However, on January 10, the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee pushed back against KPMG’s critique, noting that KPMG does not understand the laws.
The committee said a significant proportion of the issues described as “errors,” “gaps,” or “omissions” by KPMG are either the firm’s own errors and invalid conclusions, or matters not properly understood by the firm.
In a statement on Monday, the NRS said that Adedeji hosted a courtesy visit from the delegation of the tax advisory firm.
” During the visit, the KPMG team clarified that their earlier opinion on the new tax laws “had been misconstrued and expressed regret over the misunderstanding.
“They sought further clarity on the provisions of the laws and highlighted areas where recommendations could be made.”
The source said that the meeting ended with the delegation commended the NRS chairman for efficiently and promptly implementing the reforms.
Business
IMF to release January 2026 World Economic Outlook update on Monday
The January WEO Update is expected to provide revised global growth forecasts and insights into inflation trends, monetary policy direction, and key risks facing the global economy in 2026.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will release its January 2026 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update on Monday, January 19, 2026.
The report will be presented during a press conference hosted at the National Bank of Belgium in Brussels.
The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. The Brussels time and will be streamed live via the IMF website and Press Centre, allowing journalists to participate both in person and virtually.
The IMF’s economic assessment will be presented by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Economic Counselor and director of the Research Department; Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the Research Department; and Deniz Igan, Division Chief, Research Department.
The January WEO Update is expected to provide revised global growth forecasts and insights into inflation trends, monetary policy direction, and key risks facing the global economy in 2026.
Business
Heineken boss resigns after ‘turbulent’ six-year stint
“I believe this is the right moment,” said Van den Brink, 52, after almost six years at the helm “during which he has guided the company through turbulent economic and political times”.
• Dolf Van den Brink
Dolf van den Brink said on Monday he would step down on May 31 as the chief executive of Dutch brewer Heineken.
Van den Brink unexpectedly announced his resignation, as the company grapples with lower beer sales and job cuts in a difficult economic environment.
“I believe this is the right moment,” said Van den Brink, 52, after almost six years at the helm “during which he has guided the company through turbulent economic and political times”.
The change of leader comes at a tricky moment for Heineken, the world’s second-largest brewer after AB InBev.
Its most recent quarterly results, published in October, showed a steep decline in the amount of beer sold, with Europe and the United States driving the drop.
Van den Brink acknowledged at the time that the firm was dealing with a “challenging environment, resulting in a mixed performance”.
Heineken posted total net sales of 7.3 billion euros ($8.5 billion) for the third quarter, down from 7.6 billion in the second quarter.
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