Adding 'Twitter or 'tweets' to a search query on Google Search no longer returns top results containing tweets. Reuters
Adding 'Twitter or 'tweets' to a search query on Google Search no longer returns top results containing tweets. Reuters
Adding 'Twitter or 'tweets' to a search query on Google Search no longer returns top results containing tweets. Reuters
Adding 'Twitter or 'tweets' to a search query on Google Search no longer returns top results containing tweets. Reuters

Twitter's restrictions mean tweets no longer appear high on Google Search results


Alvin R Cabral
  • English
  • Arabic

Twitter's recent restrictions on viewing its content have affected its presence on Google, as tweets no longer show up at the top of the search engine's results.

This is the result of the search engine's bots being unable to crawl through Twitter's website, preventing it from displaying results, a Google representative said.

Web crawling is an automated process that copies pages to be processed by a search engine. The pages are indexed so they can be searched more efficiently.

“We’re aware that our ability to crawl Twitter.com has been limited, affecting our ability to display tweets and pages from the site in search results,” Lara Levin, a representative at Alphabet-owned Google, told The National.

“Websites have control over whether crawlers can access their content.”

The development was first reported by industry tracker Search Engine Roundtable, which noted that Google Search began showing fewer tweets over the weekend, at one point by more than 50 per cent, from 471 million Twitter URLs on Friday to 227 million on Monday.

Normally, adding “Twitter” or “tweets” to a search query on Google Search will return top results containing tweets.

However, queries with those keywords run by The National show that tweets no longer appear at the top of the Google search results.

When tweets began disappearing from search results there was speculation it was retaliation for Mr Musk's refusal to pay a bill for Google Cloud's services.

San Francisco-based Google has not publicly commented on Mr Musk's moves. Twitter remains unresponsive to media requests for comment.

Google blocking tweets means Twitter would practically become invisible on the world's biggest search engine, which commanded nearly 93 per cent of the global market as of April, data from Statista showed.

That means tweets will reach a smaller number of users and could counter Mr Musk's desire to widen engagement on his platform.

This would also prevent users from immediately viewing important content coming from Twitter, one of the most widely-used channels for news, information and updates.

Last week, Twitter began requiring users to have an account and be logged in to view user profiles and tweets, a move Mr Musk claims will prevent data from being “pillaged so much”.

We’re aware that our ability to crawl Twitter.com has been limited, affecting our ability to display tweets and pages from the site in search results
Lara Levin,
representative at Google

Unregistered users who want to view a Twitter profile will be prompted to log in or sign up, while those attempting to view tweets will be greeted with the “Something went wrong. Try reloading” message.

Shortly before that, Mr Musk announced that Twitter was temporarily limiting the number of tweets people can read in a day, as thousands of users reported problems getting to the website.

Verified accounts were initially limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, Mr Musk said. Unverified accounts were limited to 600 posts a day with new unverified accounts limited to 300, he added.

The temporary reading limitation was later increased to 10,000 posts per day for verified users, 1,000 posts per day for unverified and 500 posts per day for new unverified users, Mr Musk said in a separate post.

The moves were the latest in a long list of game-changing moves the social media platform has enforced since Mr Musk's $44 billion takeover in October.

Mr Musk said the changes, including introducing paid tiers for users and laying off thousands of employees, were aimed at boosting user numbers and increasing Twitter's bottom line.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
BOSH!'s pantry essentials

Nutritional yeast

This is Firth's pick and an ingredient he says, "gives you an instant cheesy flavour". He advises making your own cream cheese with it or simply using it to whip up a mac and cheese or wholesome lasagne. It's available in organic and specialist grocery stores across the UAE.

Seeds

"We've got a big jar of mixed seeds in our kitchen," Theasby explains. "That's what you use to make a bolognese or pie or salad: just grab a handful of seeds and sprinkle them over the top. It's a really good way to make sure you're getting your omegas."

Umami flavours

"I could say soya sauce, but I'll say all umami-makers and have them in the same batch," says Firth. He suggests having items such as Marmite, balsamic vinegar and other general, dark, umami-tasting products in your cupboard "to make your bolognese a little bit more 'umptious'".

Onions and garlic

"If you've got them, you can cook basically anything from that base," says Theasby. "These ingredients are so prevalent in every world cuisine and if you've got them in your cupboard, then you know you've got the foundation of a really nice meal."

Your grain of choice

Whether rice, quinoa, pasta or buckwheat, Firth advises always having a stock of your favourite grains in the cupboard. "That you, you have an instant meal and all you have to do is just chuck a bit of veg in."

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Name: Lamsa

Founder: Badr Ward

Launched: 2014

Employees: 60

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: EdTech

Funding to date: $15 million

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Titanium Escrow profile

Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue  
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family

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1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space

Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)

Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)

Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi 

Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution) 

Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space  

Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019

2.0

Director: S Shankar

Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films

Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

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Updated: July 05, 2023, 3:41 AM`