Twitter Accuses Microsoft Of Data Violations Following Musk's Lawsuit Tweet

Less than a month after Elon Musk threatened to sue Microsoft over allegedly "illegally" using Twitter data to train AI models, the social media company is knocking at Microsoft's doors with questions and accusations. In a letter sent to the software giant, Twitter claims Microsoft used the data from the social media platform improperly and didn't pay the due fee for it.

According to The New York Times, which first reported on the letter, the Musk-led company alleges that Microsoft not only used more data than was part of their agreement but also shared that data with government agencies without Twitter's consent. In the letter, Twitter's legal representative claims that Microsoft may have breached "multiple provisions of the agreement for an extended period of time." In response, Microsoft told Reuters that it will analyze Twitter's claims, stating that it would like to continue their business ties.

Twitter's tiff with Microsoft over improper use of platform data joins the copyright battles that are currently brewing over the training of generative AI models. Earlier this year, Getty Images sued Stability AI, the creator of Stable Diffusion, for allegedly improperly using its stock image library as AI training data and not paying for the same. In Microsoft's case, Twitter is targeting the company for allegedly misusing the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that grant a partner access to platform data and other integration abilities.

Twitter is reportedly questioning Microsoft over the use of data by leveraging the free Twitter APIs. The company ended its free API system in February and introduced a "paid basic tier." Twitter argued that its platform data is "among the world's most popular data sets," while Musk wrote in a tweet that the free API was "being abused badly." In March, Twitter announced that the Basic API tier would cost $100 per month with a read limit of 10,000 tweets, while the enterprise tier starts at $42,000 per month and costs up to $2.5 million per year.

The move created quite some uproar, as it could upend years' worth of activism and research, and not many seemed willing or able to pay that high API fee. It appears that Twitter wants Microsoft to pay for alleged sins of the past, and being the cash cow that Microsoft is, Twitter could be in for a big paycheck. Twitter, which has seen its valuation dip from $44 billion down to around $20 billion in less than a year since Musk bought it, could use some capital.

Musk has already flagged bankruptcy fears for the company in the not-too-distant past and initiated an aggressive restructuring, but has since given a positive outlook that the company could soon become net cash flow positive. However, the letter could also be interpreted by some as an act of corporate retribution. A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that it was dropping Twitter from its ad platform.