Toni Hobrecht
Twitter has updated its Developer Agreement. Essentially, this results in one key change: Third-party Twitter apps are now blocked and will no longer work. This also includes popular Twitter clients such as Twitterriffic or Fenix. API access had already been shut down earlier this week.
The new rules state that you are not allowed to “create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications.” Developers of such apps were simply told that their platforms were now “suspended”. The Twitter API can only be used to integrate Twitter content now, i.e. to embed tweets. So exactly what you see above. However, developers are no longer allowed to change how the information is presented to the reader. You can also no longer change any of the visual elements.
Since this is exactly what third-party apps do, Twitter used this as an excuse to immediately block all external clients. Some Twitter Blue features were already available in third-party Twitter apps. Obviously, the microblogging service wants to consolidate all revenue in view of Musk and Co.’s turbulent financial times. Other than that, Twitter no longer serves ads via API access. Providers of third-party apps therefore no longer have the opportunity to earn money from their apps.
