Twitter sends Microsoft letter alleging data abuse, demands audit and adherence to agreements
In what looks like an ever-growing grudge match, Twitter Inc. has accused Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) of exploiting the San Francisco-based social media company's data.
In the letter sent Thursday to Microsoft CEO Satay Nadella, attorney Alex Spiro, who is representing Twitter, accused the Redmond-based software giant of accessing Twitter's API — its application programming interface, a way of connecting different online software and services — "for unauthorized uses and purposes. Spiro also charged that Microsoft excessively accessed Twitter's APIs and apparently provided "Twitter content" to government agencies without Twitter's authorization.
In response, Spiro demanded that Microsoft conduct an audit to see in part how much Twitter content it still has in its possession and the extent to which it has complied with Twitter's rules. He requested Microsoft turn over the results of that audit by June 7.
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Until recently, Twitter offered access to its API generally for free, with some subscription services offering add-on features. After Musk purchased the company last year — and many advertisers fled — the Tesla Inc. CEO has been looking to shore up Twitter's revenue. In late March, he announced a plan to charge for access to Twitter's API for anyone using it more than 1,500 times a month.
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