Researchers using Twitter’s previously free Decahose data service will have to pay $42,000 per month to retain their data and continue using the service.
Decahose, a streaming service that gives scientists unrestricted real-time access to nearly 10% of all tweets, has been the focus of research on numerous topics, including emergency responses, law enforcement activities and extremism.
It was stated that due to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, fees will begin to be charged, which will range from $ 100 to $ 42,000 per month, for accessing many APIs.
For Academia, we are looking at new ways to continue serving this community. In the meantime, Free, Basic and Enterprise tiers are available for academics. stay tuned to @TwitterDev to learn more.
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) March 29, 2023
Universities and academics using the Decahose service will pay an institution fee of 42,000 dollars, according to the newly determined rules. However, the amount of available data will also decrease from 10% to 0.3%.
According to the news of Inews, an e-mail was sent to the researchers stating that they could start paying soon or that the data they obtained would be deleted.
The email reported that researchers who did not choose the paid service “will need to delete all Twitter data stored and cached on your systems.” Those who want to continue using the service have 30 days.
If the service goes into effect as planned, research efforts to examine social manipulation ahead of the 2024 elections could be hampered.
Along with manipulation, it was stated that research activities such as price changes, human smuggling and financial fraud could come to a standstill.
Much of the data used to study cryptocurrency sentiment comes from Twitter and Reddit. With this move, there may be problems with crypto studies.