Microsoft Plucks Twitter From Its Advertising Platform After API Reform

It has been a whirlwind year for Twitter since Elon Musk took over control of the company. The platform has so far undergone a complete internal facelift. However, one of the latest reforms has not been a decision on the social media’s part but on Microsoft’s, as it has decided to let Twitter go from its advertising platform.

The news comes right after Musk attended a marketing conference where he tried to entice brands to use Twitter again for commercial purposes. The call to companies to return to the site comes after it lost half of its top advertisers.

Microsoft Advertising played a crucial role for businesses marketing on the platform, allowing users to control different social media accounts in one place. This includes being able to respond and DM on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. That said, Microsoft Advertising will still run as usual for these sites.

Starting April 25, 2023, the Digital Marketing Center social media management feature will not allow users to access their Twitter accounts. As a result, businesses employing Microsoft’s tools cannot create or manage tweets. In addition, all past tweets and engagement data will no longer be accessible. The announcement was made via a notice on its user support page for the Smart Campaign application and emails sent out to users.

All of this comes right ahead of Musk shutting down the old free API platform and replacing it with a new US$42,000  paid Twitter API plan. Many smaller companies and more prominent brands left after this announcement.

In fact, per Mashable, government-based services such as the National Weather Service (NWS) and the federal US government agency stated that users should no longer depend on Twitter for emergency alerts.

Despite the news, it seems Musk is fine with the loss. In a tweet, he notes that Microsoft has been illegally mining user data and that it was “lawsuit time.” However, he provided no further proof that such events had taken place.

NEWS: Microsoft drops Twitter from its advertising platform as they refuse to pay Twitter’s API fees. pic.twitter.com/dY6YBIxjo5

— T(w)itter Daily News  (@TitterDaily) April 19, 2023

[via Mashable and Forbes, images via various sources]