Twitter backtracks, lets emergency and traffic alert accounts keep free API access

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After putting its API behind a paywall, Twitter is now reversing course and making an exception for emergency and transportation agencies — some of which have already left the platform. In a tweet sent out from the Twitter Dev account on Tuesday, the platform says “verified gov or publicly owned services who tweet weather alerts, transport updates and emergency notifications” can continue to use the API free of charge. Exactly what the company means by “verified” is unclear. Does it only apply if the agency has enabled a new “verified” account, and do they have to pay to get checkmarks on any sub accounts that may require API access? We already started seeing the effects of these API changes last month when several emergency and... Continue reading…