After numerous third-party providers no longer had access to Twitter over the weekend, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is no coincidence, but a deliberate ban. One of the developers of Tweetbot, a widely used client, tried to prove this using old new API keys.
After Tweetbot initially no longer had access to Twitter, co-founder Paul Haddad tried to use previously unused keys for authorization and lo and behold, the client apparently worked (at least in part) again. Shortly thereafter, however, Haddad posted on Mastodon that these API accesses were now sealed, which he believes is proof that they were deliberately and purposefully encapsulated. He also complains that there wasn’t even a hint of communication about the events. “To smaller but greener pastures.” An afterthought that probably points to Mastodon – since Haddad also shared the information there. Haddad is currently developing the Ivory app – a Tweetbot-like mastodon client that is in beta.
Unusual silence from Elon Musk
The clients of several third-party apps have been blocked since Thursday – including Tweetbot, Twitterific and Fenix. Initially, there was no justification or explanation from Twitter. This is not least surprising, as new boss Elon Musk has so far been very happy to explain himself and his plans in detail in tweets – and sometimes even has the procedure voted on.
The assumption that it was not a matter of coincidence or technical problems was quickly on the table. Then a Twitter employee also confirmed to the news site The Information that it was intentional. In addition, a statement or a dialogue with those affected should be worked on on Twitter – the time of publication is completely unclear.
Even before the takeover by Musk, third-party providers had been temporarily blocked from accessing Twitter. Twitter has always wanted its own app to be used. In the overview and order of tweets, however, those applications from others often have more to offer. Twitter had only once taken over the tweet deck and offered it as a service – this can be used to create topic queues, for example.
(emw)
