Elon Musk has chosen to fight the next major tech company. Microsoft.
Microsoft announced today that it will no longer support Twitter as part of its advertising platform. According to a support article on the company’s website, “After April 25, 2023, multi-platform Smart His campaigns will no longer support his Twitter.”
According to the company, after April 25th, users will no longer be able to access the following features:
- Access your Twitter account from your social management tool
- Create and manage drafts or Tweets
- See past tweets and engagement
- Tweet schedule
Microsoft is likely making this change because Twitter has started charging companies for using their API. This is even more evident as the company states that “other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn will remain available.”
Elon Musk doesn’t seem to take the news well. Following the announcement, Musk suddenly accused Microsoft of illegally training his AI product on his Twitter data. His CEO of Twitter went even further and threatened legal action against the company.
The exact nature of the AI products Musk is accusing Microsoft of illegally training with Twitter data is unknown at this time, but he has taken a backlash against companies using the data to train artificial intelligence products. Musk isn’t the only one starting to do so.As reported by business insiderReddit now also requires that companies looking to use its data must pay for access.
It’s unclear whether Microsoft’s actions were illegal or whether Musk’s sudden move to claim so is valid, but AI companies need to compensate others for using their data for training. The idea that there is is not an unreasonable demand. Otherwise, you can make an argument to avoid copyright infringement.
Other companies have started demanding future payments, but Musk is the first to claim that Microsoft used Twitter data to do something illegal in the first place. This claim can certainly be used by any company that has seen data collected by companies building generative AI products such as Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google.
We’ll have to see if Twitter and Microsoft actually go to court over Musk’s allegations, but more lawsuits (or at least those threats) can occur. .
