Last updated: February 02, 2023, 6:08 PM IST
Twitter continues to make changes that affect everyone
Twitter has changed its stance and wants to look at avenues that can help the company make money.
Twitter is making further changes that will directly impact developers who have been with the platform for years. The microblogging site has confirmed that Twitter will not support free access to its API, both v2 and v1.1, later this month.
The company, owned by Elon Musk, is now working on a paid base layer needed to access the Twitter APIs. The free tier ends on February 9, which is a week from now and the developers are right in suggesting that Twitter should have given them more time to comply with the new changes.
As of February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic level will be available instead — Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023
Twitter has had a bad time with its earnings in recent years, and Musk claims he is reviewing the company’s strategy to improve returns. We don’t know what Twitter’s paid tier will be like, how much developers would have to pay to use the APIs, or if this change means the platform will lose hundreds of developers working to improve Twitter’s use case.
There are developers who build interesting tools using these APIs and also prevent misuse of the platform to spread misinformation. Twitter has made big changes to how users see tweets, and the experience is said to have become faster.
“Twitter data is among the most powerful data sets in the world. We’re committed to providing fast and comprehensive access so you can keep building with us,” Twitter added to its post, which appears to explain the reasons for its decision to end free access.
Blocking developer access to APIs could be against the company, and judging by the response from many to Twitter’s post, it seems things could go wrong with this new announcement.
Twitter Blue has also made it to other countries and even has a web version with an annual plan, suggesting the platform is gearing up to make more money. And steps like this will be a regular occurrence in the coming months.
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