Twitter claims Microsoft broke API rules; Musk already threatened lawsuit
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Christopher Furlong )
Elon Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro, yesterday sent a letter to Microsoft accusing the company of using the Twitter APIs in ways that violated Twitter policies. Spiro's letter came about a month after Microsoft halted API use instead of paying new fees and Musk threatened to sue Microsoft, claiming it was "illegally using Twitter data."
"As you are no doubt aware, for years, Microsoft has used Twitter's standard developer APIs free of charge in order to benefit from Twitter's data and services in key Microsoft products that generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue for Microsoft annually," Spiro wrote to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. "Up until last month, when it declined to pay even a discounted rate for continued access to Twitter's APIs and content, Microsoft operated eight separate Twitter API apps, listed below, which appear to provide data and functionality for at least five separate Microsoft products and services, including Xbox One, Bing Pages, Azure, Power Platform, and Ads."
Twitter—which is facing numerous lawsuits alleging it hasn't paid its bills—is asking Microsoft to complete a compliance audit on its API usage by June 7.