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I'll offer a counterpoint here. It's not "[twitter's] own data". Full fucking stop. It's the data of the users on the platform. In the same way that the tex
by horsawlarway 4y ago
I'll offer a counterpoint here.
It's not "[twitter's] own data". Full fucking stop.
It's the data of the users on the platform. In the same way that the texts I send are NOT my carrier's data, and the emails I send are NOT my email provider's data, and mail I send is not the postal service's data. It's mine. They are simply holding it.
The alternative to pulling this data from the api is to simply scrape it from the site. And there are many (very legal) ways to do this. Although they come with some notable downsides (everything from forcing a user to download a browser extension, to having to ask the user for their credentials).
They also carry downsides for twitter - scraping may not be efficient for them.
So the API is the compromise: I can get access the data I could anyways using the automations I'd prefer, but in a manner that allows Twitter to moderate possible downsides for themselves.
Broadly speaking - this is the legal structure twitter (and google, and all sorts of other sites based on user content) operate under. They are not the legal publisher of the information. They may be granted a right to copy and reproduce the information to facilitate the operation of the service, but it's not their info. Period. if it were... they could be in a fuck load of hot water for anything they allow to be posted to the site.
So - while they're under no obligation to build an API... it's a compelling way to improve the user experience, moderate the consequences of scraping, and increase engagement and activity. Because at the end of the day - that information is already available to users.
- WithinReason 4y agoFrom https://twitter.com/en/tos https://twitter.com/en/tos: By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods now known or later developed (for clarity, these rights include, for example, curating, transforming, and translating).
- KatrKat 4y agoYep! Twitter licenses your data from you, so they can run Twitter with it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bottlepalm 4y agoYou should read the Twitter EULA. Also saying full stop will never help you in a discussion. Swearing doubly so.
- horsawlarway 4y agoI'd strongly suggest you actually go read their TOS yourself... Particularly relevant sections: > You are responsible for your use of the Services and for any Content you provide, including compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations. You should only provide Content that you are comfortable sharing with others. > You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. What’s yours is yours — you own your Content (and your incorporated audio, photos and videos are considered part of the Content). Now - to be clear, they are absolutely taking a free license to use your work (copy, alter, redistribute, promote, share with others, etc) as needed to ensure they can... you know, make Twitter work (and advertise for Twitter with it, or expose it to 3rd parties through an api). But the ownership statement is incredibly clear, and meaningfully so. Full fucking stop.