You may recall that a few weeks ago we told you that Twitter had blocked access to its API, which caused Clients designed by third parties to use this social network will cease to function. Initially, it was widely believed that this would be due to a technical issue, but a few hours later, a leak from the company’s Slack group revealed that this was a known and intentional action, not a bug.

All kinds of theories quickly began to circulate, and even alleged statements from Twitter staff were extremely wide-ranging: from that it was because they were making changes to improve it, or that the servers were overloaded to support it, to that the new management The social network didn’t like that many users could consult Twitter without seeing the ad, so it decided to block their access.

We could also see some voices indicating this Elon Musk’s Desperate Race to Improve Twitter Monetization, all indications were that sooner or later access to it would be paid for, with a free and basic version, another for subscription, and perhaps a third with the increasingly common pay-per-use model. And those pointing in that direction, unfortunately for the developer community that uses Twitter, were absolutely right.

It is neither a rumor nor a leak, as you can see in the previous tweet, the social network confirmed that As of February 9, free access to the Twitter API will be removed. Translated, as of this date, all developers whose apps and services use any of the social network’s features will have to go through checkout in order to maintain said access. Otherwise, your development will lose its usefulness.

This is undoubtedly a rather risky decision, as there are many professionals who use Twitter along with other social networks through third-party applications and services. Moreover, because always and especially during his early years, these third-party services have played a key role in growth and a social network success story. Closing the door on them now can cut off access to many users and therefore negatively affect the volume of traffic on Twitter.

It is even more striking when we consider the current rates. If the announced base level isn’t cheaper, today an app or service that is 500 requests to Google servers (this number is really low) must pay no less than $149 per month, while the upper end is found at 10,000 requests at $2,499 per month. This means that unless prices drop significantly, there will not only be developers who don’t want to pay, but also many who want to but can’t.