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

Twitter’s API, short for application programming interface, will be paywalled from February 9.

This has the potential to affect a host of services that rely on it, including popular bots that make automated posts on the platform.

Twitter API is like a set of instructions that tell a program how to interact with Twitter.

It allows people to build software that can post tweets, read tweets, and perform other actions on Twitter.

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.

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.