Earlier this month, Twitter announced a series of changes to its API that will directly impact how third-party platforms can access the social network. However, amid much controversy, Twitter is now delaying the changes to its API “for a few more days.”
As announced by the official Twitter Dev account, the upcoming changes to the Twitter API have been delayed. The company doesn’t say when the changes will go into effect, but it suggests that this will happen very soon. Previously, the new rules were expected to take effect from February 9.
Twitter then said that the changes would be delayed until February 13, but the new rules are now being postponed again. According to Twitter, the delay is due to “efforts to create an optimal experience for the developer community.” The company also claims that there’s an “immense amount of enthusiasm for the upcoming changes with Twitter API.”
What’s changing in the Twitter API?
Earlier this year, Twitter announced that it would no longer allow developers to use its API to create third-party clients for the social network. This was the end of popular apps such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific. After that, the company also revealed its plans to shut down its free API, which would result in a lot of good bots and automated accounts stopping working.
Following a slew of complaints, Twitter owner Elon Musk said the social network would then offer a “light, write-only API for bots providing good content that is free.” However, this new free API comes with a number of limitations. For instance, it only allows 1,500 tweets per month. Developers who need more than this must pay at least $100 per month to access the API.
Even for those paying, Twitter will still not allow developers to create third-party clients as in the past. It’s unclear what led Twitter to delay changes to its API, but the negative response to the latest announcements may have pushed the company to take a step back.
As noted by Fortune, some volunteer developers have been using Twitter’s API to get real-time help requests from people affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. With the new restrictions, these developers may no longer be able to do this. Akin Unver, a professor of international relations said that the changes to Twitter’s API would impact “others around the world that are using Twitter data to monitor emergencies and politically contested events.”
The changes to Twitter’s API come at a time when the company is struggling to sustain its revenue with a loss in the number of advertisers. More recently, Twitter has also expanded its Blue subscription to more countries in an attempt to earn more money from its users. We’re yet to see if all the company’s latest decisions will have a positive impact on its revenue.
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