Elon Musk destroyed the helpful bots

Is it time to say goodbye to Twitters earthquake alerts and chance artwork

Like the majority of social media companies, Twitter has long provided an API that enables third parties to create applications that use its platform. It is the basis for the functionality of third-party applications like Hootsuite and tools like ThreadReader. And that is how automatic accounts work.

However, the business declared on February 2 that it would stop providing this free programmatic access. Unpaid access had restrictions, and high-volume users had already been assessed fees, but now anyone wishing to use the API will need to do so.

Since he acquired the business last year, Elon Musk has made several attempts to boost sales. However, the action may negatively impact many users Twitter experiences and ultimately have the opposite effect.

Musk bought Twitter for 44 billion ostensibly to get rid of bots, which was one of his stated reasons. However, these automated accounts can also be of great value to Twitter users, such as art and public service accounts that struggle to generate enough revenue to cover a not-yet-announced fee for use of the API. Bots are frequently associated with political meddlers or persistent trolls.

Already, operators of automated accounts — from one that provides descriptive text of images for visually-impaired users to another that automatically shares images from the Frog Toad books

they will likely cease operating rather than pay for what had previously been a labor of love.

Academics, too, rely on the free API to study the behavior of Twitter users, and ending it could mean less transparency and clarity about what happens online.

Anil Dash, a tech entrepreneur and longtime Twitter user, wrote on the platform that Twitter killing the API behind a paywall will accelerate the loss of valuable content on this platform many of the most successful and distinctive content creators publish via the API while abusive bots will continue to go around the API, as always.

As a result of the massive package of loans Musk used to finance his acquisition of Twitter, which will require an additional 1.2 billion in annual interest payments, Twitter, which has never been profitable, is now under additional strain. Although the company reportedly made its first 300 million payment this week, the pressure will increase as rates continue to rise.

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