As Microsoft recently cut support for Twitter as a part of its DMC or Digital Marketing Center, specifically for its “Smart Campaigns” program which leverages social network engagement within its Microsoft Advertising platform.
The reason for Microsoft dropping support could be related to Twitter’s recent v1.1 API and V2 Enterprise licensing price changes which would cost a company over $40,000 per month. It appears that for Microsoft, Twitter’s user base is not worth the API licensing increase.
And while Microsoft was rather subtle about this change announcing its help.ads.microsoft.com page, Twitter CEO Elon Musk instantly accused Microsoft of illegally training using Twitter data and also threatened the Redmond giant with a lawsuit.
They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023
Following his initial accusatory tweet, Musk also responded to one Twitter user show asked about the platform’s long-term plan following an API price change which could possibly kill traffic to Twitter itself from outside sources. Musk said that he’s open to ideas, but ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it by removing ads, and then selling Twitter data to other parties is not a winning solution.
So far, Musk has only threatened Microsoft with a lawsuit via Twitter, but with the API price hike, other companies have also cut the use of Twitter’s expensive APIs licensing including the National Weather Service and Intercom.
Microsoft’s advertising platform will still be leveraging audiences from other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.