Mastodawn

Keyword “Intentional”.
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/musks-twitter-intentionally-suspended-tweet-bot-third-party-apps-messages-show

Musk’s Twitter Intentionally Suspended Tweetbot, Third-Party Apps, Messages Show

The mysterious outage of Tweetbot and other third-party Twitter clients that began Thursday night was an intentional suspension, according to internal messages viewed by The Information. The suspension cut off the ability of people to use Twitter on outside apps, forcing them to go to Twitter’s ...

The Information

DF has a good summation of this latest revelation.

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/01/14/information-twitter-slack-confirmation

Even without these leaks if you add up the lack of communication, only impacting the top 25-50 Twitter API clients and clients showing up as suspended in the dev. dashboard. The only conclusion at this point is that it was intentional and not any kind of bug.

For the record, still no official or even unofficial communication from anyone within Twitter.

If You Needed Any More Confirmation, Internal Slack Messages at Twitter Show That Cutting Off Third-Party Clients Was ‘Intentional’

Link to: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/musks-twitter-intentionally-suspended-tweet-bot-third-party-apps-messages-show?rc=jfy0lk

Daring Fireball

And I really want an official public statement. We have a large number of sub. renewals for year 3 of Tweetbot coming up in a couple of weeks. If we're permanently cut off I need to know so we can remove the app from sale and prevent those. Which obviously I'd rather not do.

@paul Also, what is stopping you from getting a new API key? I’m sure they’d shut that one down too, but seeing as they are cherry-picking keys to suspend, they’d have to realize it first.

@tekcor Technically? Absolutely nothing, I have API keys that aren't suspended and have the ability to remotely update them in probably 5-10 minutes.

Practically? I'm not going to play silly games and I don't want to worry about getting sued by someone with an unlimited legal budget.

Tyler Loch Jan 15, 2023

@paul Stealth update to Tweetbot using the valid API key to make it through app review to build out reading subscriptions for Ivory? Would probably work for the review tester before getting enough attention?

Scott Jan 15, 2023

@paul if the man baby has decided he doesn’t want you in his playpen, it’s easier to just stay out. His reaction when he realised that you circumvented his response would be much worse. And just because he recently lost much of his “value” (wealth) doesn’t mean he’s not got lots more to spend on lawyers

Bodo Jan 15, 2023

@paul so you could add one of those api key for apple reviews of a new build to add the subscription code you had in older versions? And after review change it back to the broken one? That way you could make the subscription transition?

Neal Pozner Jan 15, 2023

@paul
Oh, I think I the limits of his legal budget are going to be explored soon enough. But, fair point.

Radley Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor FWIW, there’s no reason to assume this is permanent and not a bug. Right now it’s still just gossip.

If there’s no official statement, then technically you’re still responsibile to your customers to fix it ASAP. Switch keys, get in the fix, and push to the App Store. Better to get it done and have options, than not get it done and have none.

Thom McGrath Jan 15, 2023

@radley @paul That’s a tough decision to make. While I don’t think Twitter has anything to sue over when using a system they provide, it doesn’t really matter if they weigh TB down in nuisance proceedings that still have to be paid for.

Spencer Callaghan Jan 15, 2023

@radley @paul @tekcor if it were a big there would be some kind of communication. This isn’t on Paul.

Mike Beasley Jan 15, 2023

@spencer @radley @paul @tekcor No, I get what he’s saying. A reasonable person would assume if this was intentional and permanent there would be comms, right?

So without that, there’s no “for sure” way to know it’s intentional. Just hearsay and rumors on blogs, right? So if Paul “doesn’t know” (wink) that it’s permanent and intentional due to lack of comms, it would be reasonable for him to believe it was his issue to fix, and to publish a fix.

Spencer Callaghan Jan 15, 2023

@MikeBeas @radley @paul @tekcor you’re assuming good intentions. Something that Musk has shown no evidence of whatsoever. A small app developer isn’t going to try to find a loophole in the plan of a litigious billionaire man-child

Mike Beasley Jan 15, 2023

@spencer @radley @paul @tekcor no i’m just clarifying that no one here actually thinks this is paul’s problem to fix

joeross⛅️me Jan 15, 2023

@radley @paul @tekcor There’s no comms because… there’s no comms team at Twitter. A bunch of SpaceX or Tesla employees are probably trying to temper what musky really wants to say. More importantly, it’s just rumors on blogs, it’s someone at twitter telling others at twitter who are asking what’s going on that the suspensions are intentional. At best, Twitter is working on inserting adds into API-served timelines and then they’ll reverse the suspensions. More likely this is, as they say, The End

Slade Watkins Jan 15, 2023

@radley @paul @tekcor Yes, but also... that is basically making Tweetbot a target. At this point, because it's guaranteed to hit media, gain attention, Musk could nuke all the keys Paul has, perhaps when it's in App Review.

I think this is end of the road now.

@paul What if we could enter our own personal API keys instead?

)}]Jan 15, 2023

@iHuman @paul
That's also required to get the self-hosted #semiphemeral to work.
And if you want to get started with the Twitter API today, each of your Twitter accounts needs to have a verified phone number tied in to it.

Jerry Gulla Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor Uhhh, have you tried going to https://developer.twitter.com/apitools now? It’s….gone. Looks as close to official “conformation” that there is no making a working Twitter client any more.

(niko)Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor I mean… as long as they don’t communicate what‘s up you aren‘t breaking any rules 🤷🏼‍♂️

Nick Arnott Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor I know it wouldn’t solve that last concern, but personally I’d love a final update to Tweetbot that lets users pass in arbitrary API keys to play silly games on your behalf.

Thom McGrath Jan 15, 2023

@noir @paul Yeah just get dozens of keys and assign users to them in batches!

It’d be funny, but it’s not worth doing business with somebody that doesn’t want to do business with you. Not that there’s a contract or money exchanging hands, but the concept remains true.

@paul but API key replacement would say apparently if only major 3rd party twitter apps were suspended intentionally, once this new one will be suspended as well

Gopal Sharma Jan 15, 2023

@paul stupid idea you’ve likely already considered: allow folks to create their own API keys and plug them into Tweetbot?

Slade Watkins Jan 15, 2023

@gp5 @paul I don't foresee Apple allowing this, sadly.

monorail times Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor some of y’all wanna go back to Twitter too badly, let it go, it’s done

Thom McGrath Jan 15, 2023

@monorailtimes The trouble is audience. The overwhelming majority of the accounts I want to follow are not using Mastodon. It feels like we’re all software developers over here.

Brendan@TapForms 🇨🇦Jan 15, 2023

@tekcor that's actually what I love about Mastodon right now.

Jamie Jan 15, 2023

@tekcor same. No one I follow over there is over here and I don’t think Twitter will “die,” it’s not going to be the same, but it won’t die completely.

fhoo Jan 15, 2023

@tekcor @monorailtimes @paul With the right client Twitter was/is still a nice source of information, if you follow the right accounts

and unfortunately I‘m still missing some of them here in the fediverse

Everybody loves Gordo Jan 15, 2023

@monorailtimes @paul @tekcor I think you're missing the point here.

pierre Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor anymore ivory TestFlights?

Eshu Marneedi Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor Let users add their own API keys!

(I’m desperate at this point for Tweetbot, maybe I’m just being stupid)

Joseph Farthing Jan 15, 2023

@EshuMarneedi @paul @tekcor the API key page is down, so nobody can get a key now...

Eshu Marneedi Jan 15, 2023

@jfm @paul @tekcor Bloody Space Karen.

Oliver Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor not knowing the TOS in all details: could you opening up the api key being entered by the user?

Manuel Wenger (old account)Jan 15, 2023

@paul What about making the API key configurable, so every user could add their own API key?

Don Whiteside Jan 15, 2023

@paul @tekcor let’s not give him too much credit; it’s only an unlimited legal budget because they don’t pay their bills anymore.

Mike Jan 15, 2023

@tekcor @paul I would guess that they put automations in place that suspend apps over a certain amount of calls per month. A new API Key would almost immediately be revoked.