Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) announced on Monday that it will make its data available to software developers for free in order to assist them to create tools and businesses that promote safer online interactions or content curation.
According to Amir Shevat, Twitter’s head of product for the developer platform, the move is part of the company’s growing effort to decentralize over the last year, a vision that aims to give users more control over what content they see in their Twitter feed or new ways of sharing content on the site.
The move to expand developer access comes as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media companies face increased scrutiny over how their algorithms surface particular content and their role in the propagation of misinformation and hate speech.
Developers will be able to access data on up to 2 million tweets each month through Twitter’s application programming interface (API) for free starting Monday.
The company also changed its API policy to allow for more use cases, including removing restrictions on competing with Twitter, Shevat said.
“I want everyone to be able to define their preferences and have their own curated content that’s adjusted to them,” Shevat said. “We can only do this if developers are in on it.”
Some examples of apps built with Twitter data include Block Party, which was founded by software engineer Tracy Chou and allows Twitter users to filter out content they do not want to see. Janique-ka John, a software developer, also created an app that makes it easier to find Twitter Spaces, the company’s live audio chat function.
