Twitter plans to end free access to its API
Twitter will discontinue free access to its API on February 9, 2023, introducing a paid basic tier instead. Concerns have arisen about how this change will affect research fields like hate speech detection and misinformation tracking, with potential limits on such work.
Twitter announced that starting 9 February 2023, it would no longer support free access to its application programme interface (API), both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead, although details about how much the company plans to charge for API usage are not yet available.
Following the announcement, concerns have been raised about the impact of the new policy on research in different areas, including hate speech and online abuse. Putting a cap on free API usage could also stop firms working around detecting the spread of misinformation on Twitter.