"Twitter accounts with "Fanbase" and "Menfess" themes are threatened to stop operating due to new policies set by Twitter. Elon Musk, who recently bought Twitter, has created various new policies to make the social media platform he bought, Twitter, more profitable. The latest is, starting next week, Twitter will no longer allow users to use the Twitter API (Application Programming Interface) for free for various purposes. This means that fanbase and menfess accounts that have been using the Twitter API to work could stop operating if they don't switch to using the paid API. This was communicated directly from the Twitter developer team with the handle @TwitterDev.
"Starting on February 9, 2023, we will no longer provide free access to the Twitter API, either version 1.1 or version 2. Instead, we will provide the Twitter API for those who want to pay," wrote the Twitter development team.
In simple terms, the Twitter API is a system or collection of data on Twitter that can be used by third-party users or application developers for various purposes. Usually, users use the Twitter API to create various fan accounts, centers for anonymous "venting" accounts (menfess), and various other community accounts. With the Twitter API, these accounts can automatically reply to a user's tweets with various code or hashtags that have been predetermined. This means that the account administrators don't have to reply to each tweet individually.
With this latest policy, fanbase or menfess accounts that want to continue using the Twitter API will have to pay a subscription fee if they want to continue using Twitter's system or data.
If they don't want to pay, these accounts will lose the functions that used to rely on the Twitter API, such as automatically replying to tweets. Twitter did not mention how much the subscription fee would be that users would have to pay if they want to use the Twitter API. According to Twitter, this information will be provided in the near future. Twitter actually currently provides a paid service for users or companies that want to use Twitter data in its entirety (Twitter API Premium), in addition to the free version of the Twitter API. Twitter never mentions how much the Twitter API Premium costs, but it is reportedly priced at a low of $99 (around Rp 1.4 million) per month, as summarized by KompasTekno from TheVerge on Friday, February 3, 2023.
Why does it become paid?
In another tweet, Twitter said that this policy is applied to provide fast access to Twitter API data. This is because, over time, tweets circulating on Twitter are increasing. "Because Twitter data is quite important, we are committed to providing fast access to users so they can continue to develop and use the Twitter API comprehensively," said the Twitter development team. This also seems to be in line with another Twitter policy, which is to block third-party Twitter client applications, such as Twitterrific and Tweetbot, so that they cannot be used as upload or read tweet applications. These various policies come after Musk officially took over Twitter in October 2021."