Elon Musk's lawyer accuses Microsoft of misusing access to Twitter data

Alex Spiro, a personal attorney for Elon Musk, who bought Twitter, has sent an open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on behalf of Twitter. In the open letter, Twitter accused Microsoft of violating its developer agreement.

Twitter Accuses Microsoft of Improperly Using Its Data - The New York Times

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/18/23729216/twitter-microsoft-api-data-sharing-elon-musk-satya-nadella

Microsoft had integrated Twitter's API into some of their products. According to Twitter, Microsoft operated not only Xbox and Bing, but also ``eight separate Twitter API apps'' such as advertising platforms. However, as Twitter announced a new API plan , Microsoft is removing support for the Twitter API, such as removing Xbox's 'video posting function to Twitter'.

We have had to disable the ability to share game uploads to Twitter directly from the console and Game Bar on Windows. You can still share your favorite moments to Twitter via the Xbox app for Android and iOS.

— Xbox (@Xbox) April 20, 2023

In the open letter, examples of Microsoft's violation of Twitter's developer agreement were that it used APIs for ``unauthorized uses and purposes,'' and that ``(Microsoft) continued to operate eight Microsoft apps until last month. Of these, six usage examples were not notified to Twitter.” Twitter claims that ``the developer contract for its platform requires Microsoft's full cooperation,'' and that Microsoft has ``compliance audits until April 2023 when the app is terminated'' and ``June 2023.'' We ask that you provide detailed information about each app and how it uses Twitter data by the 7th.

Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw told foreign media The Verge, ``Today, we received several questions from the law firm representing Twitter regarding our use of our previous free Twitter API. We will review these questions and respond appropriately, and we look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with Twitter.' In addition, Microsoft tells The New York Times that it does not use the paid Twitter API.

The letter published by Spiro does not mention the pending lawsuit, but Musk said in April 2023 that ``Microsoft illegally used Twitter data to train its own products.'' He said he would sue Microsoft.

Earon Mask announced that Microsoft advertising will not support Twitter in the future and tweeted anger that it was 'time for lawsuit' - GIGAZINE