Twitter to charge developers for API access as part of Musk’s push to bring the social platform to profitability

Twitter will start charging developers for API access in a push to generate additional revenue as the company tries to monetize more of its services just a few months after Elon Musk took ownership of the company. The announcement is part of Musk’s push to bring the social platform to profitability.

In a post this morning, Twitter said starting February 9, it would charge developers to use its API. The company added that developers would no longer have free access to its API, both v2 and v1.1. Instead, Twitter would introduce a paid basic tier. Twitter did not specify how much it would charge.

“Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead,” Twitter said.

Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead 🧵

— Developers (@XDevelopers) February 2, 2023

Twitter also explained that “over the years, hundreds of millions of people have sent over a trillion Tweets, with billions more every week.”

Twitter data are among the world’s most powerful data sets. We’re committed to enabling fast & comprehensive access so you can continue to build with us.

We’ll be back with more details on what you can expect next week.

— Developers (@XDevelopers) February 2, 2023

Just six days after taking control of Twitter, the self-titled “Mr. Tweet” said the platform is currently losing “over $4M/day.” As part of the effort to cut costs, Musk also laid off about 50% of the company’s approximately 7,500 employees. Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 in a $44 billion deal

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” wrote Musk late Friday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the Complaint Hotline Operator pegged the savings due the staff cuts at $400 million a year.

“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” he said in a tweet. “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”