Andy BaioJul 1, 2023
For the last two days, Elon Musk has been publicly freaking out about "EXTREME levels of data scraping," so added "temporary emergency measures" like blocking logged-out views and adding tight rate limits on viewing tweets. But, apparently noticed first here by @sysop408, a Javascript bug in the Twitter web app is self-DDOSing their servers, sending an endless loop of requests — which seems related to their scraping panic. https://waxy.org/2023/07/twitter-bug-causes-self-ddos-possibly-causing-elon-musks-emergency-blocks-and-rate-limits-its-amateur-hour/
Twitter bug causes self-DDOS tied to Elon Musk's emergency blocks and rate limits: "It's amateur hour" - Waxy.org

An "amateur hour" Javascript bug is self-DDOSing Twitter, sending infinite requests from users related to — or possibly even causing — Elon Musk's "temporary emergency measures" to stop web scraping.

Waxy.org
Show threadMatt RoundJul 1, 2023
@andybaio Did Twitter have anti-DDoS/-scraping protection provided by a third party? Have to wonder if they've dropped a whole load of network safeguards & are largely flying blind
Show threadAndy Baio
@mattround The timing of this makes me wonder. https://xoxo.zone/@neilk/110640561120091775
Neil Kandalgaonkar (@[email protected])

@andybaio @[email protected] @[email protected] also noted that Twitter had to exit GCP this weekend. They may have been trying to shed load in advance of a reduction in some capacities, but blamed it on scrapers (misdirection? mistake? who knows) But then inadvertently self-DDoSed at least from some clients. https://mastodon.social/@Pwnallthethings/110640380771469469

XOXO Zone
Jul 1, 2023 at 8:00pmWeb
Show threadUberJumperJul 1, 2023
@andybaio @mattround yup… https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-stopped-paying-google-cloud-bills-money-platformer-2023-6
Twitter stopped paying its Google Cloud bills under Musk: Platformer

Since buying Twitter, Musk has embarked on drastic cost-cutting measures, including refusing to pay some bills.

Insider
Show threadAndy BaioJul 1, 2023
@UberJumper June 21 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-21/twitter-resumes-paying-google-cloud-patching-up-relationship
Twitter Resumes Paying Google Cloud, Patches Up Relationship

Twitter has resumed paying Google Cloud for its services, patching up a relationship that became strained after Elon Musk acquired the social network and stopped paying Google and various other companies.

Bloomberg
Show threadUberJumperJul 1, 2023
@andybaio good info