Microsoft Misusing Twitter Data at Scale

Twitter has accused Microsoft of improperly using their data in a letter reviewed by The New York Times. 

The letter send last week to  Microsoft’s chief executive, accused the company  of misusing its data.

According to Twitter, Microsoft violated the agreement surrounding the use of its data and refused to pay for that usage. 

The letter alleged that Microsoft used more Twitter data than it was authorized and shared the data with government agencies without permission, potentially violating multiple provisions of the agreement. 

Microsoft used Twitter's data portal over 780 million times and retrieved over 26 billion tweets in 2022 alone, exceeding Twitter's "reasonable" volume limit. The letter also notes that Twitter data was used by Microsoft's gaming system, Bing, and other tools.

Elon Musk also publicly called out Microsoft last month for "illegally" using Twitter's data for AI training, leading to a debate between the two. 

Microsoft said it didn't presently pay for Twitter's data and is reviewing the letter. 

Twitter also requested that Microsoft submit a report by June regarding the amount, storage, use, and government access to Twitter data, which violates its policies if not informed beforehand. 

Microsoft utilised Twitter data in Bing, its search engine, as well as Xbox, advertising, and cloud computing, in a manner which Twitter restricts. Microsoft's disagreement with Elon Musk over OpenAI, which it invested $13 billion in, has also fuelled tensions.

Mr. Musk, who helped found OpenAI in 2015, has said Microsoft controls the start-up’s business decisions. 

- CyberBeat