Just a few days before the deadline, Elon Musk stated that Twitter would offer a write-only API for “bots creating good content that is free” after the microblogging platform announced that it would stop allowing free access to its APIs starting on February 9.
Musk claims that he made the announcement following consultation with developers.
The decision does not, however, address the issue of who would determine what “excellent content” is.
According to Tech Crunch, the new rule might give some bots a chance to survive on the social platform if it’s put into place.
With the argument that they had infringed an undefined “long-standing norm,” Twitter had already blocked access to third-party apps’ APIs.
The business has revised its developer conditions to prohibit the use of “licenced materials” in the creation or attempted creation of a service or good that is a “substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications” by the app.
The company’s choice outraged developers, who criticized it, especially since it gave users access to free content that improved the services through automation.
According to Darius Kazemi, a developer who has created more than 80 bots and organised the bot developers summit in 2016, people use and love bots on a regular basis and consider them to be an essential component of Twitter.
Many people can find it challenging to maintain the bots for a fee while offering free content.
Students, researchers, and academics may not be able to afford to pay a charge for the content they require as a result of Twitter’s decision to stop offering its free API.