As you will remember, a little over a week ago it was confirmed that Twitter was going to start charging for the use of its API, one more of the many measures adopted by the social network since the arrival of Elon Musk to try to improve its numbers. It is not common for services of this type to charge for access to their APIsso the surprise was huge and, to this day, there are many analyzes that continue to be made about a movement that, at least in principle, does not suggest that it will make an appreciable difference in the accounts of the social network .
With the announcement of the “closure” of free access to the API, Twitter also announced that a new “cheap” plan would be established to be able to continue using its functions without having to assume the existing rates at that time, which started at $149 per month. for a volume of 500 requests to the Twitter servers. As we already told you then, at the other extreme were $2,499 per month for 10,000 requests. Prices, in all cases, far from what many of the users who used, until just over a week ago, free access to it can afford.
Finally, this week we have learned that Twitter will start offering basic access to its API for $100 a month, although it seems that the company is still finishing adjusting the various access plans that it will offer, including its prices, so it does not seem likely, but some change may still occur in this regard. It would be more than desirable for this to happen and for it to go lower, but as I say, it seems quite unlikely.
Thus, with these new conditions, The Verge focuses on a particularly worrying issue of this change, and it is in the more than harmful effects that exclusively paid access to the Twitter API can have in the world of research and journalism. Until now, much of the conversation about the effects of this measure has had to do with the services that have been affected, but we must not forget that much research in the social field has been carried out thanks to open and free access to the data, something in which the API is essential.
Thus, from researchers to data journalists, including tools such as those that try to determine if an account is real or a bot, they may not continue carrying out their activities if they cannot afford to pay for API access.
