The free Twitter API has finally been shut down, and as expected, this has caused problems for many apps and websites. Twitter had initially planned to cut off access in early February but delayed the move without specifying a new timeline.
Following the announcement of its new paid API subscription plans, Twitter appears to have started suspending access to its free developer tools, affecting thousands of developers. The Twitter API has reportedly stopped working in the last several days, according to numerous app developers and other businesses.
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Last week, when Twitter released the pricing for its paid API tiers, many indie developers expressed their inability to continue their services due to the high costs involved. Even developers whose apps generated significant monthly revenue of hundreds to thousands of dollars found it challenging to sustain their operations under the new pricing structure of Twitter's API subscription tiers.
Twitter blocked API access even for some of the most prominent Twitter-based apps that were willing to pay the high new fees, which start at $42,000 per month.
Several tech founders were surprised to find that their apps had been suspended from accessing the Twitter API.
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The founder of Publer, a social media management app, questioned if the recent API access cuts were part of the new developer ecosystem the company was excited about. Despite being given a 30-day notice and waiting for the Enterprise application process, the founder stated that they were being forced to switch.
According to reports, Twitter is not responding to the applications sent out by the developers that had their access cut off, which effectively breaks the app. Some developers have tagged the company's management, accusing them of failing to explain the decision to remove their access and ignoring their pleas for assistance. Despite Twitter's one-month notice and application process, many developers feel that the company's behaviour is unacceptable for various reasons.
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It should be noted that many of the apps affected by the API access cutoff do not replicate Twitter's platform, unlike Twitter clients such as Tweetbot and Twitterific, which were banned by Musk's Twitter earlier this year. Instead, these apps help to facilitate more content creation for Twitter and encourage usage of the platform. Twitter's decision to destroy its third-party app ecosystem is, in essence, a self-inflicted wound that undermines its own growth and potential.
In a private Slack group that has grown to nearly 850 members consisting of developers who run Twitter-based apps, many are still hopeful that Elon Musk will listen to their pleas and introduce more affordable API plans than the current $42,000 per month entry point for Enterprise tiers. However, the recent suspension of API access even for those businesses that were willing to pay the expensive subscription plans is a worrying sign for the future of third-party apps for Twitter.
