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In March, Twitter executives announced new pricing tiers to access Twitter API, a service that was previously free. Twitter API is a set of programmatic endpoints that can be used to understand or build the conversation on Twitter. This change will impact researchers throughout the world who currently use Twitter’s API to collect public data from the site.
Members of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, consisting of a group of researchers from throughout the U.S., recently created an open letter denouncing the change. The group said researchers across the world have relied on Twitter’s API to study the impact of social media on democracy, the role of social media in strengthening public health, how social media has been used to amplify marginalized voices and more. Additionally, they say Free API access allows researchers to build public tools like Botometer and Hoaxy that detect social bots and visualize the spread of misinformation. Thousands of users, journalists, and public servants have used these tools in their daily lives and work. The new pay structure, they say, will render that impossible because it is unaffordable for researchers.
Filippo Menczer, director of the Observatory on Social Media, or OSoMe, at Indiana University, is available to speak about this topic.
