This article was published on March 2, 2015

Twitter is blocking Meerkat’s auto-tweet feature, stunting the app’s recent rapid growth [Update: It’s back!]


Twitter is blocking Meerkat’s auto-tweet feature, stunting the app’s recent rapid growth [Update: It’s back!]

Update 2: Service has now been restored.

https://twitter.com/AppMeerkat/status/572499845673447424

Update: Meerkat says it’s working with Twitter to resolve the issue; things should be back in order soon.

https://twitter.com/AppMeerkat/status/572457499153993728

Well, that didn’t take long. After a viral growth spurt in its user numbers yesterday, live video streaming service Meerkat has now been handicapped by Twitter for reasons unclear at the time of writing.

Users are finding the Meerkat app is no longer automatically tweeting out new streams or comments posted on these streams.

The block essentially removes everything that made the app so convenient, and could potentially put a stop to its recent growth. Meerkat is at around 10,000 registered users and 4,000 streams in 3 days according to CEO Ben Rubin.

To recap, Meerkat allows users to easily share live video feeds on Twitter. Once a stream goes live, the video shows up in your followers’ Twitter feeds. Once a live stream is completed, it can’t be re-watched. User comments are tweets, but also show up natively within the app.

We’ve contacted Twitter for comment and will update if we hear back.

Read next: Why is live video app Meerkat suddenly popular, and can it last?

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