[Air-L] RIP Twitter Search API

[Fred Fuchs]

Thoughts:

1. Is there any preliminary information on new API 
registration for either commercial or academic use?

2. Depending on contractual limitations for any new API 
service, if any, I wonder if it'd be possible to set up a 
non-profit which facilitated academic use? This might help 
with cost sharing if the cost ends up as high as you speculate.

3. Depending on the rules under which existing academic 
datasets were collected, might it be possible to share those 
among academic users? Again, a non-profit created for the 
purpose might facilitate the ethical sharing of existing 
datasets among academic users.

Fred

-- 
Fred Fuchs - Founder, CEO, & Producer
FireSabre Consulting LLC
Content Services for Virtual Worlds

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On 3/11/2023 10:56 AM, Stuart Shulman via Air-L wrote:
> The Twitter Search API we have used for gathering data since 2010 appears
> to be gone. Is the academic API also gone? I have heard the price of access
> is prohibitive. What does this mean? Foremost, if you do research on
> Twitter data, back up everything you already have. If you have any Twitter
> datasets you are now an archivist with precious cargo. Limiting access to
> new data hinders the ability of researchers to understand the evolving ways
> in which the platform is used in ongoing information warfare operations,
> for example to exacerbate polarization in democratic countries and trigger
> future insurrections here in the United States. However, at the scale of,
> say a university or even all universities, there is a massive amount of
> stored data. One thing I notice about misinformation propagandists
> weaponizing Twitter is they like to stick with what they know already
> works. While we figure out how to access and study new data we should
> meanwhile be aware that the tactics previously used give important clues
> about what is coming. I don't think Mr. Musk bought Twitter to make money.
> So the concern for me is more about what other reasons would inspire him to
> overpay for a money losing business and then set about changing the user
> composition, researchers access, governance mechanisms, and other really
> important elements. I am worried specifically that the future power users
> able to pay for API access points will shape more of what goes onto the
> platform and shows up at the top of the feeds. The general trend is
> disconcerting and dangerous with proto-fascists running about banning books
> and Elon platforming white supremacists and their fellow travelers.
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