Twitter CEO Elon Musk issued a tweet that partially reflects the company's decision, announced last week, to charge for access to the Twitter API service, which allows developers to build apps that provide additional services to Twitter users.
According to Musk, Twitter has announced that it will suspend free access to its software interface starting February 9, during which recipients of the service must pay a monthly subscription of about $100.
The Twitter API is a service for software developers and researchers that allows developers to create browser extensions to modify and improve a website's experience, or to create Twitter bots that automatically post or reply to tweets. Academic researchers rely on the service to access public tweets for analysis and research.
Twitter's announcement angered researchers and developers who had come to rely on the service, which has been free since its inception a few years ago. Several developers said the decision would force them to shut down their projects that make data mining freely available. They took advantage.
In his latest tweet, Musk said that free access to the service had led to its misuse by automated accounts that used it to serve intrusive ads or to manipulate public opinion, but added that the company said Bright in response to the comments would give free access to whoever uses it to provide "good" content. . It's free, he says. However, he did not specify the criteria by which the company evaluates good content.
According to reports, Twitter bots are accounts with special capabilities because they can interact meaningfully with users' responses. Typically, bots allow any user to write a tweet mentioning the bot account, which will perform a specific task once the signal arrives. Request a specific time period, request a video download, intercept a tweet, etc. It is one of thousands of services provided by different bots. Many Twitter users rely on bots to take advantage of the features they provide.
It is reported that since assuming the position of CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk has taken many measures to reduce costs and increase corporate profits, and has launched paid services (Twitter Blue), to obtain brand certification and some exclusive subscriber features, and many employees have been terminated without notice. Twitter is said to be working on launching a new online payment service as a new source of revenue for the site, especially after many advertisers started listing their ads on Twitter.