Twitter just lowered the number of accounts users can follow per day

Twitter has just reduced the number of accounts its users can follow in a single day, the company has announced, but don't worry. The change isn't meant to impact you or any other legit Twitter user. Instead, this new limitation is targeted at the spammers who need to quickly follow large numbers of accounts, constantly following and unfollowing users while hoping to avoid being spotted.

If you're an ordinary Twitter user, the new limitation will not in any way impact you: the social network still allows users to follow up to 400 accounts per day. That's a big drop from the previous 1,000/day limit, but still far more than any general, individual user will ever need.

The change may have some level of impact on brands that use the service, but the limitation isn't severe. The company didn't go into details on why it chose 400 as the number to settle on — perhaps it will still meet the needs of the service's larger users while addressing the spam problem.

It's not hard to find spammers on Twitter — they're often busy on tweets from major users, such as celebrities and streamers, where they offer everything from non-existent digital currency to the promise of fame in exchange for something from the user. These accounts often use the names and images of real people to appear authentic.

Though users can report these spam accounts, squashing them is hard. Spammers often make hundreds or thousands of accounts, following large numbers of people, unfollowing some, and following others. By lowering its daily follow limit, Twitter is reducing the number of people these spammers can target with a single account in a single day.