Twitter accuses Microsoft of breaking social media rules
Social media giant Twitter accused Microsoft Thursday that the software behemoth broke rules for its developers who access the platform’s data, according to the copy of a letter written by the former to the latter, reported AFP.
The letter signed by former CEO of Twitter Elon Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro and sent to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, read: “Microsoft may have been in violation of multiple provisions of the Agreement for an extended period of time.”
The letter also stated: “Microsoft stopped accessing Twitter data in April, opting not to pay fees Musk demanded developers pay for APIs [application programming interfaces] that engage with the platform.”
The letter sent to Microsoft also noted: “Twitter called on Microsoft to identify all Twitter content that has been in its control during the past two years; how it is stored and what has been done with it.”
The letter was received by Microsoft from a law firm representing Twitter with some questions about its previous use of the free Twitter API.
“We will review these questions and respond appropriately,” a Microsoft spokesperson told AFP.
“We look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with the company.”
Twitter underlined in the letter that it was looking into whether Microsoft exceeded the “reasonable request volume” in what could constitute “abusive usage”, and demanded information by June 7.
The demand has been made as former CEO Twitter Musk is eyeing to earn money by getting the developers to pay the amount for the social media platform’s access before the billionaire took over Twitter last year for $44 billion.
As per the business documents, Elon Musk is also out to counter Microsoft and Google with his recently-established X.AI artificial intelligence corporation based in the US state of Nevada.
In April, 51-year-old Musk wrote in a tweet alleging the tech giant of illegally using Twitter data to train AI, writing “lawsuit time.”
Large tech giants such as Google, Meta including Microsoft have spent years working on AI systems — previously known as machine learning or big data — to help with translations, search and targeted advertising.
Microsoft is also pouring billions of dollars into modern human-like chatbot technology ChatGPT creator OpenAI and has put the AI-powered system to work in its web browser Bing.
Since Elon Musk took control over Twitter, he has repeatedly courted controversy, firing most of its employees, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and charging for previously free services.