Twitter recently announced that its API will no longer be available for free to developers. This was the latest decision by the Elon Musk-led micro-blogging site to monetize amid tumbling revenues. To drive that intention home, Twitter is announcing the API will come with a pricing structure of $100 per month for the basic tier.
While it is clear why Twitter is doing this (it's for the money), Musk continues to insist the motives are more genuine. He says the free access was being abused and bringing nothing to the platform. Maybe he is right, but there is no doubt that Twitter sees an opportunity to boost revenue.
Yeah, free API is being abused badly right now by bot scammers & opinion manipulators. There's no verification process or cost, so easy to spin up 100k bots to do bad things.
Just ~$100/month for API access with ID verification will clean things up greatly.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2023
This new pricing structure to replace free access has not been properly detailed. However, it will offer a “low level of API usage” and “Ads API”. Free access was going to be ending today (February 9, 2023) but the company is now extending it to February 13.
Changing Platform
Twitter's revenues have collapsed since controversial figure Musk bought the company last year. There has been an ad exodus and thousands of lost their jobs. Musk insists the company must target monetization and is said to be working on the social media site becoming a payment platform too.
Musk implemented paid subscriptions to keep Blue Checks that denote official accounts on the site.
Even so, it is ad revenue the company needs, and advertisers are reluctant to use the platform. Last month I reported Amazon and Apple are bringing their ads back to Twitter. The company's revenue has dropped 40% amid the exodus.
https://twitter.com/TwitterBlue/status/1623411400545632256
Elsewhere, in Twitter news that actually benefits users, the company is rolling out its “Notes” long form content. Available now to Blue subscribers, the feature allows users to create content up to 4,000 characters. Although, standard tweets retain their current 280-character limit.
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