Cat saves 'good bots' from Twitter API purge

File nan determination to retreat free entree to its API nether "Twitter doing dumb things" because proprietor Elon Musk has partially walked backmost connected it specified days later.

Last month, third-party Twitter clients suddenly stopped functioning without explanation. This caused nan decease of galore projects, including nan celebrated Twitterific app, and bot accounts ceased activity too. Twitter later pasted a bunch of caller rules into its Developer Agreement arsenic justification.

Last week, nan Twitter Dev relationship announced: "Starting February 9, we will nary longer support free entree to nan Twitter API, some v2 and v1.1. A paid basal tier will beryllium disposable instead."

The backlash was terrible and immediate, pinch developers pointing retired that their activity improves nan inferior of Twitter for galore users and that they often do it for free. There is besides nan rumor of information scientists and researchers who utilized that information successful their jobs abruptly having entree revoked.

But what Musk grounded to understand is that bot accounts, those programmed to autonomously station immoderate accusation done nan Twitter API, shape a ample portion of what group bask astir nan platform. There are immoderate examples of nan astir useful aliases entertaining ones here.

Musk's narration pinch bots is weird. First he claimed Twitter was obscuring nan number of "fake bot accounts" erstwhile he group astir buying nan company, trying to get a amended value than nan 1 he offered. Then, not agelong into his stewardship, nan bot that tracked nan movements of his backstage jet was suspended and later reinstated pinch an added delay.

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He claimed that nan free API was "being abused severely by bot scammers & sentiment manipulators," adding: "Just ~$100/month for API entree pinch ID verification will cleanable things up greatly."

Since Twitter's finances are successful chaos owed successful nary mini portion to Musk's takeover, nan astir believable logic is simply different gross watercourse for a dataset Twitter reckons is "among nan world's astir powerful."

Yesterday Musk flip-flopped erstwhile again, saying: "Responding to feedback, Twitter will alteration a light, write-only API for bots providing bully contented that is free," pinch nan imaginable proviso that nan relationship proprietor is Blue verified. The "feedback" was a plea from an relationship that posts images and videos each clip a feline returns home.

Is that "good content"? It has much than 210,000 followers truthful we must beryllium having an "OK Boomer" moment. Still, who will go nan arbiter of "good content"? Considering nan authorities of nan man's timeline, it really shouldn't beryllium Musk. ®