Twitter Accuses Microsoft of Refusing to Pay For Tweets and Abusing its Data Access

Twitter has accused Microsoft of misusing its access to Twitter’s data, escalating the ongoing feud between the two tech giants.

In a letter sent by Elon Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Twitter alleges that Microsoft has been excessively downloading tweets from the platform, potentially violating Twitter’s terms of service.

According to the letter, Microsoft products such as Xbox One, Bing, Azure, Power Platform, and Microsoft Ads have retrieved over 26 billion tweets in 2022 alone, a level of usage that Twitter considers excessive or abusive.

The letter claims that Microsoft may have violated multiple provisions of the agreement outlined in Twitter’s developer agreement.

The letter also raises concerns about other alleged violations, including Microsoft’s failure to state a purpose for some of its data collection activities and its use of data in connection with automation capabilities that are subject to Twitter restrictions.

Twitter’s move comes as the company faces financial challenges and seeks ways to increase revenue and reduce costs following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company for $44 billion, which involved taking on significant debt.

The letter reveals that Microsoft refused to pay Twitter for continued access to its data through Twitter’s application programming interface (API) after Twitter introduced a paywall.

Twitter’s letter requests information about Microsoft’s Twitter API usage over the past two years, setting a deadline of June 7 for a response.

A Microsoft spokesperson responded to the letter, stating that the company had received questions from a law firm representing Twitter and would review them appropriately.

The spokesperson also expressed the company’s intention to maintain its long-term partnership with Twitter.

Elon Musk has been increasingly critical of Microsoft, particularly in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) development, an area heavily reliant on publicly available online content like tweets.

Following Twitter’s announcement of API access fees, Microsoft’s advertising platform declared that it would no longer support integration with Twitter.

Musk took to Twitter, accusing Microsoft of illegally using Twitter data to train its AI and threatening legal action. He also alleged that Microsoft had obtained Twitter’s database, removed ads, and sold the data to others.

Earlier this year, Musk targeted OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, claiming it was effectively controlled by Microsoft.

While Microsoft has made substantial investments in OpenAI and integrated ChatGPT into its Bing search engine, Nadella clarified in an interview that Musk’s claim about control is factually incorrect, emphasizing their noncontrolling interest and strong commercial partnership.

Musk’s criticisms of Microsoft’s AI investments align with his broader concerns about existing AI models. He has pledged to develop an alternative AI called “TruthGPT” to counter what he perceives as excessive political correctness in mainstream models.