In his quest to make Twitter less useful, thereby ensuring a speedier demise, Elon Musk blocked free API access to public services that used it to inform people about emergencies, public transit interruptions, and weather warnings. After Musk demanded that the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) pay him $50,000 a month to make automated tweets, the MTA stopped tweeting entirely.
Now in typical Muskian fashion, Twitter has partially reversed its decision but isn't doing a good job of explaining how its plans moving forward. Journalists who reach out to Twitter's media relations department receive a poop emoji.
From Ars Technica:
Every decision Musk makes that risks alienating popular accounts, whether it's creators or public sector agencies, threatens the appeal of Twitter for everyone on the platform. Musk may be messing too much with what Business Insider described as a "delicate balance" between popular accounts and their audiences. The more useful or entertaining an account is, the more useful and entertaining Twitter is for users, and the more likely accounts are to continue making posts and attracting users.
While Musk continues messing with Twitter, his decision to backtrack on blocking emergency services that don't pay for API access is a welcome one. It's also possibly a sign that he recognizes that "Twitter may need reliable real-time information more than the providers need Twitter," Business Insider reported.
