Twitter has confirmed that it is intentionally blocking third-party apps from accessing its platform.
Multiple major third-party apps like Tweetbot haven’t been working since last week. It’s been unclear exactly why…until now. In a tweet from the Twitter Developer account, the company claims that “Twitter is enforcing its long-standing API rules. That may result in some apps not working.”
Two major third-party Twitter clients, Tweetbot and Twitterific, have been impacted by Twitter’s enforcement of its API rules. However, Twitter’s announcement has not listed exactly what API rules either app is breaking. According to at least one of the developers, they aren’t being told what rules they broke either.
Tweetbot co-creator Paul Haddad joked on Mastadon that “I want to publicly apologize to Twitter for breaking its long-standing API rule of _______.” He also spoke to The Verge, saying that the company has not heard from anyone at Twitter about what it needs to do to comply with the rules in order to restore full functionality to its app.
“We have still heard nothing from anyone at Twitter on any level,” Tweetbot co-creator Paul Haddad tells The Verge. “If there’s some long-standing rule that we’ve been unknowingly breaking for the last 10+ years, we’d love to know what it is so that, if possible, we can comply with it.”
Today’s revelation comes a day after The Information reported that Twitter was working on “comms” about the intentional suspension.
According to The Information, another employee asks when they can get a list of “approved talking points” in response to complaints about third-party apps not working on Friday. A product marketing manager reportedly replies by saying that Twitter has “started to work on comms,” but that they aren’t sure when that information will be ready to share with developers.
So, for anyone who was hoping to get the full Tweetbot or Twitterific experience back this week, it seems like we all may have a longer wait.
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