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Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

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Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#321

Post by [deleted] »

nailer wrote: post #267
anigbrowl wrote: post #3

- announced at 10pm - basically a week to decide what to do with your dev project - No information to help you make that decision This seems like more management by manchild. I strongly suspect that Musk realized his promises of cutting down bots etc. were failing and that they either couldn't or wouldn't develop abuse detection, so he's decided to solve the problem by making it cost money, with the (perhaps desired)…

> This seems like more management by manchild. You have good points and can probably make them without resorting to insults.

[deleted]

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#322

Post by [deleted] »

jstummbillig wrote: post #288
anigbrowl wrote: post #3

- announced at 10pm - basically a week to decide what to do with your dev project - No information to help you make that decision This seems like more management by manchild. I strongly suspect that Musk realized his promises of cutting down bots etc. were failing and that they either couldn't or wouldn't develop abuse detection, so he's decided to solve the problem by making it cost money, with the (perhaps desired)…

> This seems like more management by manchild. "Manchilds" track record in this Game of Life is by and large a testament to how well he understands its rules. And, maybe, how silly they are.

[deleted]

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#323

Post by dwild »

clipsy wrote: post #73
senttoschool wrote: post #2

This is why I will never build a company based around a free API from a for-profit company. I'd never be able to sleep well at night knowing that years of work and all the employees/families that depend on the business is dependent on someone who could wake up one day and decide on a whim to end access.

By the same reasoning, one shouldn’t build a company based on any API, regardless of whether it’s free or paid; the existence of a paid API does not automatically guarantee any future pricing or even availability. One could build a company around a paid API only to have the pricing jacked up 10x or the API shut down or neutered in some critical way and end up in, functionally, the same situation.

I means the world isn't binary, obviously there's risk in everything.

There's not much incentive to jack prices up 10x, it's their revenue, by doing so they will probably lose some. There's incentive though to not offer something for free, as this is literally losing you cash. You never know all the facts though, Google Maps did increase the API cost quite a bit, so it can always happen, but when it's free, you do know some of the facts... and it's not in your favor.

So yes, still some risk, but not at all the same amount of risk.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#324

Post by numpad0 »

ryantgtg wrote: post #261
numpad0 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter API had traditionally been configurable between read-only, read-write, read-write + DM. Most apps request either of the latter two, but you always could.

Does this change affect all access? Like, I have half a dozen bots that only write (post rss items). At first I assumed this was only impacting read access (apps that mimic the twitter app), but now I’m not so sure.

There's no write-only API keys, all keys come with read permission. If you didn't encounter discussion of any of "Key", "Secret", "Token", "CK/CS" while configuring that, and are thinking of apt/yum/brew installable terminal packages and IFTTT and likes, that package or the IFTTT backend are the apps and the maintainers will have to do something about it.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#325

Post by rsynnott »

luckylion wrote: post #183
rsynnott wrote: post #60

Okay, so this one is nearly making me buy into those conspiracy theories that Musk is deliberately breaking Twitter because 4d chess (only nearly; this is incompetence rather than anything else). There's an argument to be had whether it makes sense for Twitter to have a free API tier. I personally think that it's obvious it should: - A lot of Twitter content/engagement is created by bots, and people quote-tweeting sa…

> Use of paid-only APIs virtually always stagnates. You should add the keyword: expensive APIs. Nobody cares about pay $10 a month to experiment and use the API, especially if it makes things easier to get and not have to explain to some Twitter service why you need access. It's when they make it expensive that nobody will use it.

So, bad news on that: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1621259936524300289?s=46...

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#326

Post by numpad0 »

flangola7 wrote: post #271
mlrtime wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is trivial to buy 1000's of phone numbers with SMS all available through APIs. You don't even need to keep them. The grey web is filled with many of these services. If I looked hard enough I could probably buy 10000 verified twitter accounts with API access right now, aged 1 year or older.

Where can you buy actual mobile phone numbers? (Not VoIP numbers) I would think mobile carriers keep that in their own house

I think I've encountered some nefarious discussions around obtaining SS7 bulk access endpoint and intercepting SMS?

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#327

Post by rchaud »

esskay wrote: post #123
akmarinov wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they should’ve considered whether it was wise to tie they research to a company that might not exist in 5 years

That clearly wasn't even an issue in the past. It's only since Musk took over that theres been anything said on the possibility of Twitter closing up shop, which as we all know frm Musks' well know history of spewing nonsense, will not happen.

Why can't it happen?

Twitter has $13bn in debt on its balance sheet thanks to the ridiculous purchase price. Last week's bond payment of $300m is on its own, half of what their total net debt was pre-Musk ($600m)[0].

Twitter's revenue last year was $5bn. In a year's time it will probably be a fraction of even that; Twitter's user base isn't growing and isn't going to magically become more valuable in an economy where advertisers are cutting back on spending.

[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-elon-musks-twitter-faces-mo...

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#328

Post by cercatrova »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #133
cercatrova wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From a business perspective, you don't want to alienate developers who work to build your ecosystem. This does not follow, in Twitter's case. If Twitter's API made them money, they wouldn't have shut it down, but it's the exact opposite, it costs them money while providing no monetary benefit. So in this case, from the business perspective, it is correct to start charging for it. Now they could spend 3 months but w…

It provides no direct income . But it provide monetary benefits by attracting and keeping users, which encourages ad spend. Or at least it used to, until the big advertisers were driven away. If someone is trying to run a business and doesn't understand how indirect income works they might want to consider something less challenging. What this actually does is remove API access from small startups, solo developers, a…

The number of users kept via the API is not as high as people might think, so I would actually agree that if that's the case, then Musk correctly shut off the API for people who weren't bringing in more benefits than the costs they were incurring.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#329

Post by dehrmann »

zimpenfish wrote: post #179
b800h wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Providing a read-only API still costs Twitter money though. He's trying to make it profitable. Seems obvious that stuff like this would be cut.

> He's trying to make it profitable. Probably shouldn't have landed it with $1bn/year debt payments then, eh.

This is like PE takeovers that sink companies that were previously treading water. It took on a new, ongoing expense that it couldn't afford. The layoffs, the auction, not paying leases, and this, all seem to have some cost cutting angle to them. I don't think it's necessarily because Musk is cheap or sees lots of fat to cut; I think he's desperate to lose less of his original investment.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#330

Post by dwild »

noahtallen wrote: post #320
jdthedisciple wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question though: If you're a business, is it really a huge deal to part with, idk, maybe $10-$20 a month for the API (idk what it will cost)? Talking in pure financial terms.

It’s actually much more expensive. See https://developer.twitter.com/en/pricing/search-30day Up to 500 requests PER MONTH: $149.00 Up to 1000: $289.00 Up to 2,500: $699.00 Up to 5,000: $1,299.00 Up to 10,000: $2,499.00

Is this actually confirmed as it doesn't even make sense.

That page mention a free tier of up to 250 requests, it only mentions search, and even though we can't see the content easily, Web Archive is saying that page has been there for the past 5 years... so is that really the future price? Or is it for a Search API that has been priced like that for a long time?

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