Twitter Debuts a Mid-Tier Data Access Plan, to Almost Immediate Backlash
Twitter introduced a new data access tier called “Pro” in an attempt to attract startups after facing backlash for implementing a paywall for developers and researchers.
However, some critics argue that the new tier is “too little, too late.”
The Pro tier, priced at $5,000 per month, allows subscribers to retrieve one million tweets monthly and post up to 300,000 automated tweets.
Twitter, under the leadership of owner Elon Musk, has been exploring ways to increase revenue and recover from advertiser losses following user departures.
The introduction of an intermediate tier between Twitter’s Basic and Enterprise tiers reflects user pushback against the limited data access and publication capabilities imposed by Twitter’s application programming interface (API).
The Enterprise plan starts at $42,000 per month and can go up to $210,000 per month.
Public institutions like New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority had previously withdrawn real-time service alerts from Twitter due to the paywall.
The MTA later returned after Twitter reversed its decision, allowing eligible government and public service accounts to continue posting automated tweets for free.
However, shortly after the Pro tier’s release, it received criticism for being unaffordable for many startups and arriving too late to save others that had already shut down due to Twitter’s paywall.
Users expressed discontent, stating that the jump to $5,000 is too steep and highlighting that it is cheaper to send emails than pay 1.66 cents for a 280-character tweet.
Some users suggested a more reasonable price point of $500 per month for the tier. Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Twitter has demanded researchers delete data downloaded prior to the paywall unless they opt for an enterprise plan and pay for access.
Twitter has not yet responded to requests for comment on these matters.
