The breakdown of third-party Twitter clients in progress since Friday would in fact be intentional on the part of the social network which has remained silent so far.
Would Twitter have voluntarily cut off access to its API for third-party platforms such as Tweetbot, Twitterific or Echofron? Since Friday, users can no longer connect to these applications allowing them to browse Twitter while benefiting from advanced features, without going through the company application.
What looked like a bug at first glance turns out to be intentional on Twitter’s part. If the management of the company has not communicated on the subject, the specialized media The Information had access to internal Slack messages, attesting that this was indeed a deliberate act. “Third-party app suspensions are intentional,” clearly indicates a message from a dedicated channel for triaging service interruptions.
Silent Twitter
Many third-party developers attempted to reach Twitter. Without success. « We still have no news from Twitter. We’re honored that so many of you have chosen us as your way to navigate Twitter over the past 12 years and hope that can continue…” notably tweeted Tapbots. Already, some developers like Paul Haddad, co-founders of Tapbots and developer of Tweetbot have preferred to throw in the towel and have announced that they are focusing on launching offers on Mastodon.
What about the reasons for these access revocations? Twitter has remained silent so far. Nevertheless, still according to the sources of The Information, the company is working on an official communication. Things could still drag on a little, since since the arrival of Elon Musk at the head of the social network last October, the blue bird no longer has a communication team. Case to follow.