Twitter is reportedly questioning Microsoft over the use of data by leveraging the free Twitter APIs. The company ended its free API system in February and introduced a “paid basic tier.” Twitter argued that its platform data is “among the world’s most popular data sets,” while Musk wrote in a tweet that the free API was “being abused badly.” In March, Twitter announced that the Basic API tier would cost $100 per month with a read limit of 10,000 tweets, while the enterprise tier starts at $42,000 per month and costs up to $2.5 million per year.
The move created quite some uproar, as it could upend years’ worth of activism and research, and not many seemed willing or able to pay that high API fee. It appears that Twitter wants Microsoft to pay for alleged sins of the past, and being the cash cow that Microsoft is, Twitter could be in for a big paycheck. Twitter, which has seen its valuation dip from $44 billion down to around $20 billion in less than a year since Musk bought it, could use some capital.
Musk has already flagged bankruptcy fears for the company in the not-too-distant past and initiated an aggressive restructuring, but has since given a positive outlook that the company could soon become net cash flow positive. However, the letter could also be interpreted by some as an act of corporate retribution. A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that it was dropping Twitter from its ad platform.
