Tweets continue to disappear from users’ timelines on Twitter, even though the company claimed in 2021 that a similar disappearing tweets issue had been resolved. This recurring problem is casting doubt on the platform’s management and technical capabilities.
Twitter has been plagued by disappearing tweets before, but it is unclear whether the company has the technical staff to address the issue promptly. In September 2021, Twitter promised to fix the problem after receiving similar complaints. However, users are now witnessing tweets vanish again.
Engineering Challenges and Layoffs
In November 2021, Twitter informed users that it had updated the app to eliminate the disappearing tweets issue. Yet, users are currently expressing dissatisfaction with this feature, indicating that the problem persists.
These complaints come as Twitter faces outages, financial challenges, and mass layoffs following Elon Musk‘s acquisition of the company. Recently, the platform experienced its sixth shutdown this year, further fueling users’ concerns.
Many believe that the reduced engineering staff at Twitter is affecting the platform’s ability to address issues effectively. Steven Murdoch, a professor of security engineering, told The Guardian that unresolved glitches and shutdowns are partly due to layoffs within Twitter’s engineering team.
Murdoch explained that rewriting the Twitter code might help avoid such problems, but it is a high-risk strategy. It would result in splitting the already-reduced engineering team between maintaining the old code and making the new version.
Users continue to share their experiences of Twitter removing content. Michael Baym, for example, expressed frustration when Twitter deleted parts of a tweet thread about a recent preprint, including the preprint’s link.
As users eagerly await Twitter’s explanation, the company’s press email auto-response was recently changed to the poop emoji, further exacerbating users’ frustration. The platform’s management and ability to resolve recurring issues remain under scrutiny amidst ongoing challenges. What do you think about this issue? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments!
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