Twitter to paywall API from February 9, stokes concern among popular bots

“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,” the Twitter Dev account tweeted Thursday. Twitter did not say how much this new paid basic tier would cost, though.

With just a week left for free access to end now, many are speculating that this change could have the side effect of killing off several useful bots like @MakeItAQuote and @colorize_bot. While the first creates a graphic containing the tweet the bot’s been tagged and the author’s profile picture, the second brings old photos to life by colouring them. These are just only a couple, though, in the sea of useful bots and fun bot accounts popular on Twitter.

Alt Text Reader, a handy bot that can be tagged under any image on Twitter to reveal its alt text, has announced that it’ll “probably” stop working next week. It isn’t clear right now exactly how the API changes will affect bots, but it’s highly likely that not every developer will be paying a monthly fee to keep fun bots up and running.

This bot will probably stop working next week.
It’s been a long time coming at this point, but I’m still disappointed.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this hellsite more accessible! ❤️ https://t.co/jVBcgR5UeM

— Alt Text Reader (@get_altText) February 2, 2023

“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,” the Twitter Dev account added.

Twitter’s financials aren’t looking their best right now, with recent data from an advertising firm showing that advertising spend on the platform dropped by 71% in December, as top advertisers slashed their spending after Elon Musk’s takeover. The new CEO is therefore trying to reduce the platform’s dependence on ads for revenue, first by monetising the blue checkmark and now this.