Twitter Cracks Down on API Abuse, Will Charge B2B Developers

To prevent its own Cambridge Analytica moment and make sure it's getting paid for its data, Twitter said today it will audit developers that use its APIs. From a report: Starting June 19th, Twitter will require developers of any app that calls recent tweets from or mentions a user more than 100,000 times per day to submit their app for review. If a developer proves they have a legitimate consumer use case, like running a third-party Twitter client or doing research, they'll be granted free access to the API at the same rate they have today. If they primarily use the data to serve business customers as a B2B tool, like for customer service or social media monitoring, they'll have to pay to enter a commercial licensing agreement with Twitter with a custom price based on usage. Twitter refused to even specify the range those prices fall into, which won't win it any extra trust.

Developers found to be breaking Twitter's policies will be booted from the platform, while those that don't submit for review will be capped at 100,000 requests per day for the user timeline and mentions APIs. Twitter says it suspended 162,000 apps in the second half of 2018, showing it's willing to play hardball with developers that endanger its ecosystem.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.