Microsoft Faces Accusations From Twitter For Unauthorized Data Usage

Microsoft Corp has been confronted with fresh allegations from Twitter for illegal retrieval of information and violating the agreement of the company data.

The microblogging site also claimed that 2022 exclusively witnessed about 26 billion tweets being retrieved by the Satya Nadella led tech giant, along with accessing Twitter’s API for more than 780 million times.

Moreover, the Elon Musk owned social media platform observed that the some of their company data had been shared by Microsoft with the government agencies without prior consent.

Microsoft’s Negligence Of Twitter Agreement

For all developers, Twitter has set a rate limit for making use of its API (Application Programming Interface) in its agreement, so that beyond a reasonable volume the data cannot be used.

The agreement also communicates that its data is prohibited to be used by the Government agencies, without seeking advance permission from Twitter.

Yet, instead of observing the deal, Microsoft had reportedly accessed the API of Twitter for a hefty 780 million number of times.

On top of that, the Microsoft Apps had been caught of retrieving more than 26 billion tweets in the previous year.

On March this year, Twitter had declared that it would start levying more charges on its streamlined tweets to be accessible to the developers, in a bid to weed out its chances of being bankrupt.

Be that as it may, the tech giant refused to pay a penny to Twitter for its unscrupulously over usage.

It is shocking to behold that Microsoft had apparently used Twitter’s data in its search engine Bing Pages, in its gaming system Xbox One, as well as tools related to cloud computing and advertising such as Power Platform, Azure, and Microsoft Ads.

Twitter’s Action To The Non-Compliance

Alex Sipro, Elon Musk’s lawyer, wrote a letter to the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, seeking an audit revolving around the usage of Twitter content by the corporate giant.

The letter highlights that for a grievously large amount of time had Microsoft repeatedly violated the agreement over multiple provisions.

Twitter has not demanded any financial settlement regarding the illegal usage of data by Microsoft, nor has it issued a lawsuit against Nadella.

All it asked of its contender was to examine the usage of Twitter data by 8 of Microsoft’s Apps, as well as to abide by the developer agreement of Twitter Inc.

Further, Musk’s microblogging site has demanded a 2-year report from Nadella by 7 June 2023, which should clearly state the amount of Twitter content the tech giant possess, the storage and usage of the alleged data, and the time duration as to when the Government agencies were given access to the data.

However, Twitter Inc. was unavailable to make a comment on this issue, and replied with its usual poop image on its press email.

In spite of all the allegations, Frank Shaw from the Washington based firm claimed on Thursday that Twitter had some questions involving Microsoft’s former use of free Twitter APIs.

The 48-year old tech developer takes a fancy towards maintaining the long-term partnership with Twitter, and is prepared to review and respond to the interrogation in a legitimate manner.

Musk And AI

To add to the woes, Elon Musk was already at loggerheads with Microsoft concerning their Artificial Intelligence strategies, when the unauthorized data usage accusation pictured into the limelight.

The firm behind ChatGPT, OpenAI, which was co-founded by Elon Musk and backed by Microsoft, faced criticism by Musk, considering the chatbot sensation to be now just another money-oriented gig that has become a closed source.

According to Musk, OpenAI has trained the AI to lie for profits closely related to Microsoft.

Last month, Musk had taken on the tech giant for illegally using Twitter data for training its AI technologies.

The 51-year old business magnate had also accused the co-founder of Google, Larry Page, for not considering the AI safety earnestly.

 

The introduction of a new AI plan ‘Truth GPT’ is on the cards by Musk, that will challenge the AI platforms offered by both Google and Microsoft.

Proofread & Published By Naveenika Chauhan