TechScape: Why Twitter ending free access to its APIs should be a ‘wake-up call’

TechScape: Why Twitter ending free access to its APIs should be a ‘wake-up call’

In this week’s newsletter: The social media network is putting its APIs – the under-praised tool that keeps the internet as we know it going – behind a paywall. And the ramifications are huge

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APIs may not seem like the sexiest thing to write about in a tech newsletter, but bear with me. Because APIs – or application programming interfaces – are important. They’re the synapses of our digital world: without them, our current ways of living wouldn’t work.

For example, when you visit a website that requires you to log in, and you choose to connect with a Google or Facebook account, you’re utilising an API. That click of a button that links your existing account on one platform with a new account on another is enabled by an API. They spring into action whenever one type of work interacts with another, working to bridge that gap. APIs are the overlooked and under-praised army that keeps the internet as we know it going.

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