Public services will get free API access again, Twitter says

Elon Musk has made a lot of controversial decisions at Twitter since taking over. But, perhaps none were more roundly criticized then the decision to cut-off important public service and safety accounts from Twitter’s API, unless they paid for its new exorbitant Enterprise pricing.On Tuesday, however, Twitter appears to have changed its mind.  Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) “One of the most important use cases for the Twitter API has always been public utility,” the official Twitter account @TwitterDev tweeted. “Verified gov or publicly owned services who tweet weather alerts, transport updates and emergency notifications may use the API, for these critical purposes, for free.”The decision to carve out exceptions for important accounts that have recently been cut off from Twitter’s API is certainly a welcome one. Twitter’s original hardline stance was that everyone who wanted to use its API – beyond the small $100 “hobbyist” plan – had to pay for an Enterprise plan, which starts at $42,000 per month. SEE ALSO: Twitter keeps logging you out? You’re not alone Twitter’s new API plans led to hundreds of indie developers being forced to shut down their Twitter-based apps over the past month. And, as a direct result, emergency weather alert accounts run by the National Weather Service (NWS) and public transit alert accounts such as the MTA’s NYC Subway accounts announced they would no longer be able to provide their crucial, automated, up-to-the-minute alert services on Twitter.Cutting off the NWS and MTA appeared to receive…Public services will get free API access again, Twitter says