In an unexpected turn of events, WordPress.com and Jetpack have announced the discontinuation of Twitter API in their product. The discord that started last month in early April when Twitter suspended WordPress.com’s access to its API quickly escalated with the new Twitter API pricing and terms.
Though access to the Twitter API was immediately restored the same day, WordPress.com and Jetpack have decided to discontinue the use of Twitter API due to its high subscription plans that start at a whopping $42,000/per month.
WordPress.com released a statement:
“Twitter recently notified Automattic that it was dramatically changing the terms and pricing of the Twitter API. The cost increase is prohibitive for us to absorb without passing a significant price increase along to you, and we don’t see that as an option. We have attempted to negotiate a path forward, but haven’t been able to reach an agreement in time for Twitter’s May 1 cutoff.
Given that, we have decided to discontinue using the Twitter API.”
Starting with immediate effect, WordPress.com has removed Twitter from its Jetpack Social plugin, so now blog posts won’t be auto-shared to Twitter. Users who want to publish posts on Twitter will have to use the Twitter app to manually share the link.
WordPress.com and Jetpack will now focus on adding more social media sharing options to its product, including Instagram and Mastodon. However, note, the plugin continues the auto-sharing feature for other social platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Tumblr.
