Twitter delays API changes again, this time ‘by a few more days’

Twitter is once again delaying the rollout of its paid API. In a tweet spotted by AppleInsider, the company said Tuesday it needs more time to complete work on the redesign. “As part of our efforts to create an optimal experience for the developer community, we will be delaying the launch of our new API platform by a few more days,” Twitter posted.

When the company first announced it was shutting down its free APIs, Twitter said it would cut access off on February 9th. It later pushed back the cutoff date to February 13th without warning. Elon Musk hasn’t said much about how paid access to Twitter’s APIs could work other than to suggest the company will charge $100 per month and add “ID verification” to limit bot abuse. The company has also said it plans to introduce a free access tier that will allow “good” bots to tweet up to 1,500 times a month.

It’s worth noting that third-party clients and the creators of automated accounts aren’t the only people who use Twitter’s APIs. Researchers frequently use the data the platform generates for a variety of purposes. For instance, in the aftermath of the recent 7.8-magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 36,000 people in Turkey and Syria, members of the Turkish diaspora have used tweets to create heatmaps that show where survivors could be located, with the intention of sharing their findings with rescue crews and aid organizations.

In a recent interview with Time, data scientists and people involved with the rescue effort said Elon Musk’s cost-cutting measures, including the multiple rounds of layoffs he has ordered since taking over the company in October, have slowed their work. The company’s API changes are likely to further impact the rescue effort. “If the API stops, the flow of data will stop and people will have to rely solely on slower ways of coordination for the relief efforts,” Sedat Kapanoglu, one of the software engineers involved in the project, told Time. “That can have life-altering effects. It’s that important.”