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Twitter to end free API access next week

Access to Twitter's API will soon require a paid subscription.

Donovan Erskine

February 2, 2023 6:55 AM

Twitter

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Twitter’s API, short for Application Programming Interface, allows users to utilize the company’s public data. Many third-party developers have used Twitter’s API to make unique applications and accounts for users to enjoy. Soon, that will no longer be possible, at least not for free. Twitter has announced that it will be scrapping free access to its free API next week. Those that wish to access that data will have to pay a subscription to do so.

Twitter announced the changes to its API policy in a tweet from the Twitter Dev account.

The announcement comes just one week before the changes go into affect. Twitter is filled with accounts that utilize the platform's API in order to provide information to users. It’s likely that a lot of these will cease operations following the API changes. This news also comes just weeks after Twitter shut off access to third-party clients, effectively killing popular apps like Tweetbot and Twitterific.

As the Elon Musk era of Twitter moves along, the company has continued to make drastic changes to its internal and external operations, altering the experience for workers and users alike. As we watch to see what the social media company will do next, be sure to bookmark the Twitter topic page on Shacknews.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_