Twitter: Actually, We Won’t Charge API Fee for Real-Time Alerts

Nothing (at Twitter) lasts forever: The social network this week reversed its February decision to shut down free access to its API.

The development team on Tuesday announced(Opens in a new window) that verified government and publicly owned services may use the framework for “critical purposes” like weather alerts, transportation updates, and emergency notifications.

“One of the most important use cases for the Twitter API has always been public utility,” the team says. That was not the case three months ago, however, when Twitter ended free API access, which allowed third-party developers to build tools that connect with the service.

Instead, Twitter replaced it with a “paid basic tier,” with plans starting at a reported $42,000 per month ($504,000 annually) for access to 50 million tweets, and reaching as high as $210,000 per month for 200 million tweets. The company, led by Elon Musk, justified the shift by claiming it’s high time people pay for the valuable data and insights circulating on the platform.

Few organizations were willing or able to pay up. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) last week ditched real-time subway, train, and bus service alerts on Twitter after the firm requested $50,000 a month for API access. The the MTA now says(Opens in a new window) it’s “assessing our options for service alerts going forward,” adding that it’s “glad that Twitter got the message.”

Automated accounts associated with the National Weather Service (NWS) and San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit(Opens in a new window) (BART) were also impacted (if only temporarily), leaving millions of followers without up-to-date information about delays or dangers.

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