Twitter will stop offering free access to the Twitter API from February 9 and will launch a paid version, the Elon Musk-owned microblogging website said as it looks for more avenues to monetize the platform.
in a series of tweets, the Twitter developer account said that the company will stop supporting both the legacy v1.1 and the new v2 of its Twitter APIs. The company has not provided any information about what it plans to charge for the use of the API.
The move follows Twitter abruptly changing the terms of its API in recent weeks that was used by many popular Twitter clients such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific. Most of the third-party Twitter apps have shut down their mobile apps.
Twitter data is among the most powerful data sets in the world. We are committed to allowing quick and full access so you can continue building with us,” Twitter account Dev said on Thursday.
“Over the years, hundreds of millions of people have sent more than a trillion tweets, and billions more every week.”
While the company had already excluded third-party clients, other app developers had taken a cautious approach to moving forward with their development using Twitter APIs. This new move could force some developers to shut down their products or start charging for them, even for basic usage.
Thousands of developers use the Twitter API to create informative weather and information bots. These are fun side projects for people who might not be willing to pay fees for something that might not pay their bills.
The company hasn’t clarified whether it also plans to end the free use of APIs for researchers. Twitter’s new announcement could impact research in different areas, including hate speech and abuse online. Universities often use Twitter to study human behavior in different regions. Limiting the free use of the API could also prevent companies from detecting the spread of misinformation on Twitter.
Dozens of developers use the Twitter API to interact with the social network. The company has had a strange relationship with developers since its inception. But the relationship worked largely because third-party companies were often the ones submitting new products and features for Twitter, and the social network wanted to keep the ecosystem alive.
In recent years, Twitter has tried to mend relationships with developers by launching new programs like Twitter’s app discovery toolbox. Many of them have been closed under the new management.
Under Musk, Twitter is scrambling to control how users around the world access the platform as it scales up its attempts to monetize the service.
Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion at the end of October. He took out a loan of about $12.5 billion to finance the deal. To keep Twitter alive, an unprofitable service, Musk has to pay an extra $1.5 billion a year in interest alone. So naturally, Musk is pushing to make Twitter more self-sustaining.
Twitter revamped — and more expensive — its subscription service and tweaked the way tweets appear on a user’s timeline to make the platform more engaging, lucrative, and a compelling destination for a shrinking advertiser base. .
