Twitter is adding a fee to another previously free service next week: its application programming interface, or API. This gives people an automated way “to find and retrieve, engage with, or create” tweets, users, spaces, direct messages and more, according to Twitter.
“Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead,” the Twitter Dev account tweeted Thursday. Twitter did not say how much access would cost.
Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023
The Twitter API is used by developers who create third-party tools on the platform and researchers who analyze the data in their work. The end of this free service with just a week’s notice has people speculating that favorite Twitter bots will shut down when the charge goes into effect.
The change to the Twitter API will effectively kill “every free fun and useful thing ever built with it: bots, games, mashups, visualizations, research projects, autoposters, autoblockers, deleters, and so much more,” Andy Baio, former chief technical officer of Kickstarter, posted to Mastodon.
In December, Musk said that Twitter would hold votes on “major policy changes.” It’s not clear whether the revocation of free API access qualifies as that. Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some bot creators have said that they won’t keep their bots online if they have to pay for it. One Twitter user who developed bots that automatically post art to Twitter suggested it would drive smaller users away from the platform.
Charging devs for API access without proving them with a way to monetize their apps seems like a bad move. This will further alienate small devs and push them to experiment on other platforms. Thanks for the 7-day notice, @elonmusk https://t.co/Ln3Q0Q4TKt
— andrei 🇺🇦 (@andreitr) February 2, 2023
“Twitter data are among the world’s most powerful data sets. We’re committed to enabling fast & comprehensive access so you can continue to build with us,” the Twitter Dev account tweeted.
This isn’t the first service Twitter has monetized since Elon Musk took over the company in October. Twitter introduced an $8 per month subscription model for Twitter verification in late 2022.
